Saving Memories
by JumpUpAndDown
Summary: When the Gorgon Empire decides they want to demolish the Death City library in favour of a new shopping centre, high school student Maka Albarn and her friends are willing to do anything to make sure it doesn't happen. In between realising her feelings for a certain cool boy, and Prom, can Maka really save the library, and all the memories she cherishes? - Written for Resbang 2013
1. Chapter 1

"And so that is how the human heart works. Next week, we'll have a lab session, and we'll be dissecting a human. Any volunteers?" At the awkward silence that greeted him, Professor Stein chuckled darkly, waving a hand through the air carelessly. "I was just joking…"

At that, a few people let out soft, half-hearted chuckles. But they knew he wasn't kidding.

Not really.

After all, there had to be some explanation as to why he had a giant screw lodged through his head.

"Right." He continued, spinning to the whiteboard on his chair, as he always did. "Take down what I'll need you to bring next week."

As other students scrambled to take out the notebooks they had already kept in their bags, Maka Albarn slowly took down what her teacher was writing on the board. With her ash blonde hair tied into pigtails, moss green eyes and neat appearance, she looked to be the perfect example of a model student.

That is, until a stray piece of crumpled paper hit her right in the face. Letting out a sound that was as close to growling as humanly possible, she looked around for the culprit, not at all surprised to see her childhood friend, Black Star, gesturing animatedly to the person in front of her.

Maka looked over at the hunched back of the one sitting in front of her, only able to see the back of his head that was covered in snow-white hair pulled back with a headband.

Feigning innocence, Maka pointed to the person sitting to her left, who smartly ignored her, used to their shenanigans by now. Much to her amusement, Black Star only seemed to get more agitated and was practically bouncing on his seat as he continued to gesture to the person sitting in front of her. Again, Maka pointed to the person behind her instead, and Black Star looked like he was about to rip his blue hair off.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, he whispered, "Pass it to Soul. Soulllllllll." Except this was Black Star and whispering was not in his dictionary.

The whole class's heads whipped around to look at him, but instead of being embarrassed like anyone else would be, Black Star seemed to light up at all the attention he was getting.

"Pass _what_ exactly to Soul, Black Star?" Professor Stein asked, amusement in his voice, which made it evident to Maka that he knew exactly what the bright-haired boy had been doing behind his back.

Black Star stood up, chest puffing as he proceeded to say, "The basketball! Being the awesome team captain that I am, I already wrote down a whole plan for today's match."

Professor Stein just shook his head exasperatedly as the rest of the class laughed, used to his student's loud behaviour by now. "You won't have a match to go to if you don't take a seat right this instant." He said dryly, the class bursting into laughter again as Black Star hurriedly plopped back into his seat. Maka wiped tears from her eyes as the class settled down and continued where they left off.

After checking to see if the coast was clear, Maka leaned across her table and tapped Soul on the shoulder, and once he turned around she presented him the crumpled paper with a grin. He shook his head at her, red eyes bright with amusement, but smirked all the same as he took the note and read what his friend had desperately wanted to tell him.

'_YOU GONNA EAT MY DUST, EATER.'_

Maka giggled as Soul slammed his head against the table.

The bell had rung signaling the end of class, and Black Star had hurried over to their tables, quickly telling them to meet at the basketball court, before bounding out of the classroom, yelling excitedly the entire way.

The duo made their way to their lockers first; they had luckily been assigned lockers not too far from each other.

"So you're coming right? Tsubaki and the others will be there too." Soul informed her, leaning against the locker next to hers as she put away the books she didn't plan on bringing home.

Maka smiled at him. "Sure. Black Star said I could just read my book while you guys play."

Soul snorted, but otherwise didn't say anything. She closed her locker, and they began to walk to the school basketball court. While usually reserved for the basketball team, it was usually vacant on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Black Star made it a point to always book the courts for their group of friends – with Tsubaki's reminders, of course.

The senior had developed a soft spot for him, bonding over the fact that they both came from Japan when she moved to Death City last year. Maka respected her, considering that the older girl voluntarily wanted to get to know Black Star better; she hadn't been as keen when they were younger and he had learnt to talk.

After a quick stop at the toilet, where Soul changed out of his leather jacket and shirt into more appropriate sports wear, they arrived at the court, where it seemed the teams were being decided. Soul joined the others on the court while Maka joined Liz, another senior, on the wooden bench.

"You're not playing either?" Maka asked her, pulling out a novel she was currently reading from her bag. She was in the middle of the book and the plot was getting intense.

"Are you kidding me? I just got my nails done yesterday." She flaunted them to Maka, who, while not a big fan of painting her own nails, could appreciate a job well done. Liz sighed as she continued, "Besides, if I do play and end up scratching at the polish, or, heaven forbid, break a nail, Kid will be all up on me about it not being _symmetrical_."

Maka chuckled sympathetically. She was well aware of the obsession Liz's housemate had with everything symmetrical, having been on the receiving end of more than one of his breakdowns in the many years they had known each other.

Suddenly a shadow fell over her, and she scowled, looking up to see what was blocking her sunlight. Black Star was looking down at her, head tilted as if in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She answered sarcastically.

"You're supposed to play."

"You told me I could read my book."

Black Star blinked. "I lied."

Maka threw the book at his face.

"Oh come on Maka!" Patty, Liz's younger sister bounded over to where they were, short blonde hair flying. Tsubaki trailed behind her, looking both annoyed at and worried for Black Star, who was literally red in the face, and moaning in pain. Maka rolled her eyes at his over-the-top acting, knowing full well a book to the face wouldn't hurt him as much as that.

Sidling up between Maka and Liz, Patty grabbed Maka's hand; looking at her imploringly, blue eyes bright and expectant.

"A-ah well…" Even though Patty was a year older than her, her innocence and excitable nature made Maka think of her as more of the younger sister she never had. Given that, it was hard to refuse her in any situation, especially when she pulled that face.

From across the court, Soul and Kid watched with amused expressions. The former cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, "You're fighting a losing battle, Maka."

Maka sighed, conceding defeat.

"Alright, but I'm not exactly dressed right." She mumbled, looking down at the plain shirt she wore, tucked into a checkered skirt.

"That's ok, you can just stand there and not actually do anything." Black Star said, jumping up. He grinned, bounding past the girls over to where Soul and Kid lazily passing the ball to each other.

Maka frowned, not pleased with the idea of just standing there. Tsubaki noticed her expression, and smiled kindly. "Don't listen to him, Maka-chan. Black Star isn't on your team, so he's probably just making sure his team will win."

"Tsu's right, Maka!" Patty exclaimed happily. She took off the cap she had been wearing and placed it on Maka's head. "There! Just play with us and have fun!"

Maka smiled at her friends' encouragements. The unsure look on her face was replaced by one of determination. With renewed enthusiasm, she fist pumped the air, "Yeah let's do this!"

But then the hand in the air faltered.

"I… don't know how to play basketball though."

Patty laughed as Liz waved a hand through the air, "Ah, you just need to throw the ball into the basket." She advised airily.

Tsubaki laughed nervously. "Well… Not exactly. But!" She said, taking Maka's hand and pulling her towards the boys who were waiting impatiently, especially Black Star. "I think you'll get the hang of it soon enough, Maka-chan. You're smart."

As soon as they reached the boys Black Star clapped his hands together eagerly. "So you and Patty are lucky enough to be graced with me on your team."

Maka grimaced, and caught Soul's eyes. He grinned at her, showing hints of the sharp teeth he had, and she frowned, knowing him well enough to know that that grin only spelt trouble for her.

"Anyway, don't you think just playing basketball is boring?" He asked, tone light. "Let's kick it up a notch and say that the captain of the losing team has to go through some sort of penalty."

Black Star smiled widely. "That's fine by me. I accept your challenge!"

Soul put an arm around Kid, who was already looking slightly paler. "Alright then, if we lose, you have permission to go to Kid's house and move all his frames to the left by 2cm."

At that, Kid blanched, hands going up to grip his hair. "O-oi, who gave you permission to do that!"

Tsubaki patted his shoulder sympathetically as he continued to look worried. In the mean time, Black Star was saying, "Alright then. If my team loses, then Maka will have to go on a date with her dad."

Maka's laughter at Kid's reaction immediate ceased. "Huh? W-wait a minute! Since when was I the captain?" She gripped Black Star's bicep, "You want to be the captain right? Aren't you the captain?"

At her words, Black Star fell to his knees. "I know, but I feel bad for making you play with us, and a God must not make his subjects sad."

"But I'm not sad!" Maka quickly told him, but her words were drowned by his wails of wanting to be captain.

Patty patted her head, "And sides, you're wearing the Captain's cap!"

"This?!"

"Alright, since we're all settled, let's get started!" Soul said, and stood in the middle of the court. Black Star wiped away the tears from his eyes and went to his own position.

Maka stood a few steps behind Patty as everybody got positioned, getting ready, staring at where the ball was.

With a blow of a whistle, courtesy of Liz, the game began.

Soul passed the ball to Black Star and Maka frowned.

"Wait… Soul's not on our team."

Black Star passed the ball back to Soul, and Maka's confusion intensified.

"But…" No one else seemed to be surprised by what they were doing.

The game went on, and as each moment passed Maka just became more and more confused. Black Star's enthusiasm was proving to be a hindrance on the court, and Soul's team was rapidly gaining points, most coming from Kid who seemed adamant to score every few minutes. Once, the ball was thrown to her, courtesy of Patty, but then when she actually tried to do something Kid immediately called her out on a foul, obviously desperate to not be on the losing team. Something about a double dribble, though Maka had no idea what that was.

It sounded cool though.

Liz cheered as Patty scored for their team, allowing them some dignity as the score was raised to 4 - 24, letting out an enthusiastic 'whoop' and jumping out of her seat. Patty grinned widely at her sister, who grinned back.

The blonde settled back into her seat, but then a noise caught her attention. After looking around for a few moments, she realised that the sound – a series of repeating notes – was coming from Maka's bag. Liz quickly rummaged the bag for Maka's phone, assuming that it was her phone ringing and not anything else.

Fishing it out, Liz looked at the name flashing on the screen. "Oi, Maka!" She shouted, waving her phone in the air when the girl turned, "This Marie woman is calling you."

Confusion marred Maka's expression as she ran to pick it up, Kid calling a time out for the game in wake of her leaving the court. Trying to catch her breath, Maka answered the phone.

"Miss Marie." She wheezed. "Sorry for taking so long to answer."

The person on the other line quickly dismissed Maka's apologies pleasantly, and then her own tone began to drip with embarrassment. "Oh no no Maka, I should be the one apologizing."

Maka tilted her head as Soul came to stand beside her, taking her water bottle out of her bag and guzzling down its contents. Maka swatted him lightly as Marie continued speaking, "I have a favour I need to ask."

"Oh? Sure, no problem. What is it?" Maka asked, and Marie sighed over the line.

She explained, in an incredibly frantic voice, how most the staff members couldn't make it to work today, and now they were incredibly short on staff – in fact it was just her and Azusa, and two others -, and how she knew that Maka only worked during the weekends and occasionally after school on Fridays, but she was desperate and needed someone to else to help with the workload.

"And I know I'm asking a lot of you," Marie continued to babble, "Especially so suddenly but I real-"

"Miss Marie!" Maka blurted out, finally managing to get a word in. She giggled, fanning herself, "It's no trouble at all. I'll be there soon."

There was a delighted squeal from the other end of the line, and a stern 'shh' that Maka recognized to be from Azusa. "Thank you so much Maka! You're the best!" In her head, Maka could picture Marie bouncing excitedly in her seat, uncovered eye bright, and Azusa sighing exasperatedly in the background, going through documents as fast and meticulously as she could.

"It's no problem." She repeated kindly, before saying goodbye and hanging up.

"Who was that?" Patty asked curiously.

"And where are you going?" Liz continued, watching as Maka stuffed her phone in her bag and pulled her bottle out of Soul's hands.

'That was my boss. They're a bit shorthanded today, so I'm going over to the library to help them out."

Black Star gasped. "You're leaving in the middle of a game?! You can't!" He said, proving his statement by raising his arms, effectively blocking Maka's path. She scowled at him, but he seemed unfazed. "We just need a couple more points to beat Soul's team! If you leave now…" He trailed off, biting his lip; he looked as if he was going to say something devastating.

"I'M GONNA LOSE."

Out of the corner of her eye, Maka saw Kid breathe a giant sigh of relief, and her own eyes widened, remembering the punishment that lay before her if their team lost. Soul seemed to remember too, since he grinned wickedly, full set of sharp teeth seen.

Maka sidestepped Black Star's one-man barrier. "Liz can take over for me."

Her suggestion was met with two quick 'No's, one from Liz herself, and the other from Kid, who looked distraught at the mere idea of Liz's nails somehow losing its perfect symmetry if she were to play.

Soul clapped his friend on the back, smirking. "Looks like you've lost this round, Star." He patted Black Star on the back, none too sympathetically. "And Maka… I hope you didn't have anything planned for Sunday. Bet your dad's head is going to explode when you ask him."

Maka sighed, knowing that she would have to go through with it; her friends were very resourceful, and would know if she had gone out with her Papa or not.

"I will get my vengeance." Black Star muttered to himself, and Maka silently agreed with him.

"Anyway Soul, since you finished all of my water." She stated, using her now empty bottle to point at him accusingly, "You're going to drive me there."

"Harsh." He retaliated, but didn't object. In fact, he quickly took his own bag and threw it over his shoulders. Liz raised an eyebrow at this, looking slyly between Soul and Maka, and nudging Tsubaki who had sat beside her. The two older girls giggled and Black Star turned to them.

"What the hell are you two giggling about?"

"Nothing that little brain of yours can comprehend."

Black Star frowned, not entirely understanding what Liz had just said, but having a vague feeling that it was meant to be insulting.

Maka and Soul bade their goodbyes to their friends, and made their move. As they walked, Maka sniffed herself and immediately crinkled her nose in disgust.

"Soul, do you have any deodorant?"

Soul looked at her amusedly. "Do you want to smell like a man?" He asked, half-serious, but pulled out his deodorant from his bag anyway, tossing it to her. She caught it smoothly, quickly spraying some on herself.

"I don't mind." Maka said, answering his question a little belatedly, tossing the bottle back to him.

Soul smirked, "No real difference right?"

The book smashed into his head so fast he never saw it coming.

He howled, rubbing his head in pain. "What was that for?!"

Maka innocently batted her eyes at him, returning the book she had used back into her bag. "Oh, you mean you _weren't_ asking for it?"

He grumbled, "All I did was tell you the truth… Ok, ok, I'm sorry!" He yelped, raising his hands in front as his head as Maka made a motion to take the book out of her bag again.

"Thought so." She said smugly, picking up her pace and leaving Soul to catch up to her.

"Did you park in the usual spot?" She asked, and Soul nodded. Soon enough they were at the carpark, and he handed her his spare helmet- the one that was really reserved for only her. She put in on, and he helped her tighten it.

There had been a point where Soul had never really given a damn about road safety, despite Maka's warnings, but after too close a shave last year, he was never again taking their safety for granted.

It had all happened too fast. The details were fuzzy.

But he could still recall the how it was raining heavily that day. Both of them were drenched from head to toe, but he was confident in his abilities to drive her to work safely. And even though she was unsure, Maka had trusted him.

He remembers a tall figure darting across the road just when they were rounding the curb. He remembers how he had instinctively turned the handles just a little too harshly; how both of them had been thrown onto the sidewalk, how there had been a fence there.

There had been a lot of blood, his blood. His blood mixing with the rain.

Soul remembers her screaming; her sobs and pleads that he had desperately held on to as the darkness took over…

He had walked away with a scar that stretched diagonally from his chest to his waist after an emergency surgery, while Maka had walked away with a number of scratches and a huge fear of motorcycles. It took Soul months to convince her that he would never let it happen again, and even now she was still wrapping her arms around his waist just a tad tighter than she needed to.

While to everyone else it seemed like Soul had walked out with the short end of the stick, he never truly forgave himself for causing such emotional distress to his best friend. That was why he decided to invest in proper safety helmets for the both of them.

He was never going to let her get hurt again.

Soul watched her get on to his bike, and when she smiled at him, tilting her head in the way he knew meant _what's wrong _he just smiled and patted her helmet a few times, before getting on himself. Her arms wrapped around him instantly, so familiar, so comforting, that despite himself, he felt a light blush creep heat his cheeks. Thankful that she couldn't see it, he just started the engine, and then they were off.

Ten minutes later, they were rounding the curve to the library. Slowing down, he parked the bike next to the curb. Maka got off quickly and handed him her helmet.

"Are you always going to use me as your own personal chauffeur?"

Maka raised an eyebrow at him, "Why do you think I keep you around?"

"Then maybe I should start charging you."

She smirked. "You wouldn't, you love me too much."

Though he knew she was only teasing, the blush that had subsided during the ride rushed back to his cheeks, stronger than before. Fortunately, Maka was already walking down the path to the library, where she worked part-time.

Once she reached the entrance she turned back to wave at Soul again, as had become custom for them. He waved back, and she entered the library satisfied.

The moment she was out of sight, Soul took off his helmet and rubbed his hands over his face, mortified and slightly confused as to why he was blushing. Letting out an annoyed sigh, he jammed the helmet back onto his head and took off, heading home.

Maybe playing his piano would help him to understand his own mind. Or worse come to worst, he could go visit his older brother.

Wes was annoying, but Soul had to admit he was good with all things to do with feelings; something Soul just didn't have a heads or tails on in the slightest.

Especially when it came to Maka.


	2. Chapter 2

Maka started smiling almost the instant she set foot in Death City library. It couldn't be helped. To her, this place was like a second home, and sometimes even more of one than the place she lived in. The cool air, the comfy chairs, the smell of books – both of old and new… all of those things spelt home to her.

Not to mention the familiar faces she would see; her coworkers, who she had practically grown up with. People of all ages who shared the same passion she had for reading, parents who never failed to bring their children to the library on weekends… It reminded Maka of the times her own parents would bring her to the library, in the early years of her childhood where there was no such thing as cheating fathers or absent mothers.

It was bittersweet, to say the least.

But the joy Maka felt from being surrounded by the people she'd grown to love and the shelves of books calling out her name overrode any of the negativity in her memories.

She greeted Azusa who was manning the front desk by waving cheerfully. The stern, bespectacled woman tapped the watch on her wrist, but waved back nonetheless. Fortunately, the lack of staff wasn't too awful, considering not many people came to library at this time – especially since exam period was still a considerable distance away. Azusa pointed upwards, and Maka nodded, knowing that she meant Marie was in the office waiting for her.

Quickly, Maka climbed up the circular flight of stairs to the last level of the three-storey high building, where the main office was. Knocking the door softly, Maka went in.

"Maka!" Marie greeted cheerfully, blonde hair bouncing as she stood. The eye that wasn't covered by an eye patch shone brightly.

"Hey Miss Marie."

The older woman made a displeased sound. "Miss Marie sounds really sad. It seems like it's just emphasizing how single I am."

Maka sighed, used to this. Her boss complained about it every week. "I call you that because it shows how young you are, Miss."

This time it was Marie who sighed. "I guess so. But still…"

"A-ah, Miss." Maka quickly exclaimed, knowing if Marie were to start on her daily 'I-want-to-get-married' monologues, she would never be able to start doing her job. "What was it that you needed me to do?"

"Oh right! I need you to sort the books on the shelves. It's a slow day, and there aren't too many books unsorted from yesterday, so you don't have to rush."

Maka nodded. "Right, I'll get started right away."

Before she could exit though, Marie called her name. "Ah, Maka, you should clock in. That way you can get the pay you deserve for working overtime."

Maka just shook her head. "Don't worry, Miss Marie. I wanted to help out today, you don't have to pay me for it."

Marie seemed touched by Maka's words, but still clucked her tongue. "Silly girl, I won't let you work without paying you. What kind of boss do you take me for?"

The younger student laughed. "Alright then, Miss Marie. I really appreciate it!" She told her, before closing the door gently behind her.

Marie let the smile linger on her face for a moment, before it dropped abruptly. She pulled out a piece of paper from where she had quickly slid it under when she heard Maka entering.

After staring at it for a moment, she placed a determined expression on her face, and proceeded to punch in numbers on the office phone.

Roughly two hours later, Maka was sorting the last few books into their shelves. It was true that there wasn't much to do, so Maka went about her work in a much slower pace than usual, occasionally taking books she had read before off the shelves to reread her favourite parts. The two other workers who were there just rolled their eyes at her, used to her tendencies by now.

She had completed the homework that was due the next day weeks ago, and so she was in no rush to go back home. Her father likely wasn't home either, and Maka didn't like the quiet of an empty house.

Humming quietly to herself, she pulled out yet another one of favourites; a romance novel written by one of her favourite authors. Books written by this person always featured women that were independent, and who always ended up with a really good-looking guy. Maka admired and envied them both aspects.

So engrossed in the action-filled chapter she was reading, it was no wonder she jumped and nearly dropped the book when someone called out to her.

As Maka attempted to regain her dignity, the woman who had called out to her smiled kindly, though her oddly coloured eyes didn't seem to reflect the same warmth. The two people who stood behind her weren't even smiling; a young, petite woman who was wearing a hat too big for her head, and a large, bulky man, who seemed to have only one eye.

Maka gulped. "S-sorry, could you please repeat yourself?"

The intimidating woman didn't seem amused by that, but she complied. "I'm looking for Marie Mjolnir? She owns this… library," She looked around pleasantly, though her words did rub Maka the wrong way, "Right?"

Maka nodded. "She's upstairs. In her office." The woman nodded, and turned to leave, but not before giving Maka one last glance, as though sizing her up.

Once she had left, Maka let out a breath of air that she hadn't known she was holding. Quickly placing the book she had been reading back to its original position, she marched over to where Azusa was alone at the front desk, pigtails flying with each heavy footstep she took.

"Who was that?" Maka asked, whispering, as soon as she was sure she was within earshot. Azusa spared her a glance, pushing her glasses up as they began to slip off her nose.

"That was Medusa. Medusa Gorgon." She looked at Maka expectantly but Maka merely inclined her head, indicating she explain further. "From the Gorgon Company?" Again, Maka merely shook her head, the name not ringing any bells. Azusa sighed. "She's the landlord. She owns half the buildings in the area."

Maka frowned slightly, green eyes flashing in recognition. "But what is she doing here?"

Azusa shrugged, but Maka knew she was withholding information. Moving closer, Maka leaned against the counter. "Just tell me."

Azusa sighed, knowing that she was only fighting a losing battle if she didn't, considering how stubborn she knew the younger girl could be. "I'm not entirely certain." She started, looking at Maka sharply before she could say anything, "I'm telling you the truth. But… I have a hunch."

"Tell me." Maka repeat, quickly plastering on a smile as she cheerfully waved at one of the leaving patrons.

Azusa sighed. "Fine. But you have to promise you won't go marching up there, especially while she's still here."

The younger girl made a non-committable noise, but nodded all the same.

Azusa leaned in marginally closer, and said, "I think she's trying to shut down the library."

"What?!" Maka shouted. Several people looked up; some annoyed, most amused; being regular patrons, they were used to the teenager's explosive temper.

Azusa frowned at her, "Maka."

Forcing down a curse word she knew would definitely land her in trouble, Maka took a deep breath. After releasing it, she mumbled a quick apology. A tense moment of silence passed before Maka spoke up.

"She can't do that." She whispered furiously.

"She can." Azusa stated calmly, but from the way she was clutching the stack of files she was organizing on her desk told Maka that she was no where near being calm.

All of a sudden, Azusa quickly straightened up, and subtly, started gesturing for Maka to turn around. The younger girl did so, and immediately tensed up; but not from fear, from recoiled fury.

There, a few metres ahead of them was the trio from before. As though feeling Maka's stare on her, Medusa tilted her head slightly to the left. Noting the terribly contained anger written clearly on the girl's face, she smirked slightly, and made her way to them. Out of the corner of her eye, Maka saw Azusa's shoulders tense up.

"This place is quite… empty, isn't it?" The older woman stated innocently, looking around at the few patrons seated sparsely in the reading area, oblivious to the tension in the room.

"Why, yes Ma'am." Azusa stuttered, standing up quickly before Maka could say a word. "Not many people frequent the place during this timing, especially considering the exam period is still quite a few weeks away."

"I see…" Placing her finger on her chin in the universal gesture for thinking, she looked at Maka, "My my, doesn't it seem like reading for leisure is turning considerably rarer these days? It makes you question where exactly the library stands in the hearts of the citizens, am I right?"

Maka just glared.

Smiling coldly, Medusa turned to leave. Her companions, or rather, subordinates, quickly went to flank her either side.

Maka was still seething when Azusa placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "That was a foolish move, Maka." She reprimanded, but before Maka could mumble out a half-hearted apology, she smiled crookedly. "But very brave. Huh, looks like I was right." Lifting her hand off Maka's shoulder, she proceeded to sit back down and continue where she had left off with her work.

Anyone unfamiliar with the older woman would have assumed that she was unaffected by what had transpired, but knowing Azusa since she was a child, Maka knew that wasn't true at all. The slight frown marring her stern features was already a huge clue that she was feeling upset over what had happened.

"Azusa-san…" Using the title her mother had taught her to address her childhood friend with, Maka was going to offer her some support, but trailed off when Azusa firmly shook her head.

"I think Marie needs your shoulder more than I do right now."

Nodding, Maka turned to leave, but not before managing to hear Azusa whisper quietly to herself, "For once, I wish I had been wrong." Feeling even more desperate to offer solace, Maka bounded up the stairs two at a time, words to say and actions to comfort running through her mind.

Soul 'Eater' Evans stood at his locker, taking out the books he would need for the next few hours in school. The day hadn't even begun and he already felt bored out of his mind. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy school, really, he had nice teachers and great friends, and he did, contrary to popular belief, enjoy learning from time to time.

However, there were just some days where he'd look at the timetable, and instinctively know that the day was going to suck. It was probably because he had History today, which he hated, and Fridays were naturally always overshadowed by the weekends that were to come.

Also, he didn't have any classes with Maka.

That thought bummed him out a lot more than he would like to admit, but he wouldn't deny it if someone were to accuse him of it.

Too wrapped up in his own thoughts, he almost missed it when the person in those thoughts walked by him. The swish of two ashy blonde pigtails in his peripheral vision didn't go unnoticed though, and after grabbing the books he thought were most likely needed, he quickly slammed his locker shut and jogged lightly to catch up with her.

"Oi, Maka." Soul called out when he was in earshot, and she turned around at her name.

"Oh, hi Soul."

He frowned a bit, falling into step beside her. "Hey, you okay? Usually you wouldn't just ignore me." Soul joked, noticing how Maka looked a little too tired and a lot too sad. She only mumbled a soft apology, and his cautious worry quickly developed into real worrying.

In silence, they continued walking, but even when they reached his classroom, he didn't make a move to go into it. Despite not saying a word to him, Maka noticed immediately.

"You have History first period today, right? Wasn't that your classroom?"

"I see someone's memorized my timetable. A little eager aren't we?" Soul teased, not wanting to miss the opportunity that very rarely revealed itself. At his words, Maka blushed fast and easy, but still managed a small frown at him.

"I know you've memorised mine too." She told him, taking a little satisfaction in the way his cheeks visibly burned. "But you didn't answer my question!"

"Yes and yes." He answered then. There was a beat where they stared blankly at each other, stopping in the middle of the busy hallway, where dozens of students were milling about, trying to get to their classes with all the necessary materials.

"Well?" Maka asked, hand poised on her hip, eyebrow arched. Soul recognized that as the 'don't-play-with-me' look she had mastered ever since she was out of the womb.

"Well what?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

Of course, being him, he still hadn't learnt his lesson.

The book crashed down on his head faster than he could have blinked.

"Ow… Geez I was just messing with ya!" He whined, rubbing his throbbing head. Maka scoffed, nose in the air as she stuffed her hardcover book into her duffel bag.

"I'm not in the mood for your 'messin'," She raised her fingers in the universal gesture for the use of apostrophes, "Soul."

At that, Soul straightened. "Yeah, that's why."

"Huh?"

"That's why I'm not in my class right now. You looked really upset." He saw how her back immediately straightened, saw her defenses go up.

"Well, I'm not." Maka told him adamantly. "Now you can go to your class."

"I don't believe you." He told her simply, crossing his arms over his chest.

She huffed. "I'm not lying to you." She said smoothly, though Soul saw how she couldn't meet his gaze as she said those words.

"Yeah you are." His voice softened, and he looked at her slightly imploringly. "You don't have to, you know?"

At that, he saw stiffen for a moment, and then visibly deflate. Her lips trembled slightly, and if Soul didn't know her any better, he would have assumed she was going to start bawling right in the middle of the hallway, barely seconds before the bell would ring.

"Yeah…" She closed her eyes, sighing softly. "I know."

When she opened her eyes, Soul saw his reflection in the slightly wet green eyes.

"I'll tell you about it later, alright?"

"Alright." He agreed, just as the bell started ringing. Maka made a small squeak before she rushed off to her class, Soul doing the same.

Once classes had ended for the day, Soul immediately stalked out of class, barely seconds after the teacher had dismissed them. His strides were purposeful, only one aim in mind – find Maka.

That was why he groaned so loud when he heard the familiar, obnoxious voice of his best friend calling his name.

"Yo, Black Star." He greeted tonelessly, but despite his less-than-friendly greeting, the blue-haired boy still grinned at him widely.

"Yo, Soul!" He shouted back, even though he was the one who had called out to Soul first and they were barely a foot away from each other. "Wanna hang out at my house? Play some games, drink some beer – y'know, men stuff. We can invite Kid over too. Sid and Nygus aren't in town, they went to visit her parents over the weekend." He quickly added, as Soul raised an eyebrow at him.

Sid and Nygus were Black Star's adoptive parents, after Sid, a rookie cop at that time, had rescued an infant Black Star from his burning home – set on fire by his biological family's enemies. He and Spirit Albarn, Maka's father, had been on an overseas assignment in Japan, and had found themselves in the midst of a centuries-long feud between clans.

Sid had grown attached to Black Star for the few days' they remained in Japan, and though it went against regulation, their seniors managed to somehow pull enough strings to guarantee that Black Star would be Sid's from then on.

Soul made a disgruntled sound at the back of his throat. "Can't. Gotta go find Maka now."

"Maka?" Black Star placed a finger on his chin, stroking it as though in deep thought. "Well, I guess Maka could come too…"

"No, I mean, I can't. I have to find Maka, like now."

"Alright, I'll help ya! With my amazing skills we'll find her in no time!"

Soul sighed, passing a hand through his hair, "I don't think Maka'd appreciate that, Star. She's kind upset with something right now."

"Maka's upset?" Soul glanced at the shorter boy, noticing how his tone had changed. "Who made her upset? I'll punch the living daylights out of them!"

It was then that Soul remembered that the day Black Star had been brought to America was the day Maka had been born; Spirit had barely made it back on time. As a result of that, the two had grown up practically side by side; being each others' first crushes, attending self defence lessons together at their fathers' station, being brought to those stations on Bring Your Child Day.

Thus, Black Star had developed a pseudo brotherly fondness for Maka, and was fiercely protective of her, despite, or because of, the girl's independence.

He had, Soul remembered with a shudder, displayed that trait after their accident. The hospital had needed to add two days to his stay, probably more if Black Star had actually laid a hand on him.

His punching a hole in the wall right next to Soul's head was effective enough.

"I don't know." Soul finally answered. "She was supposed to tell me now, which is why I'm looking for her… If you want to, I guess you could co-"

"I'm coming with you." He said before Soul could even finish his sentence. The latter quickly cleared his throat.

"Right, sure."

Knowing that Maka's last lesson had ended an hour before his, Soul started walking to the library. It was there she always waited for him before they had lunch, sometimes just the of them, sometimes with the rest.

They walked in silence for a while, before Soul stopped. It was a little _too _quiet, he hadn't even heard Black Star's heavy footsteps behind him for several steps. Looking back, he saw the other boy just standing there, looking confused.

"Where ya going?"

"The library. Maka usually hangs there after school." He was about to turn back and continue on his way, but Black Star still wasn't moving. Instead, he had just cocked his head to one side.

"There's a library here?"

Maka sat in her favourite corner of the small school library, bent over an essay she had just been assigned for Classic Literature. Though it lacked the homeliness she had come to expect from the public library, it's familiar smell of worn books and the undisturbed quiet calm still made it one of top places she liked to just sit in and get her thoughts together.

However, right now, even the therapeutic atmosphere of the library wasn't enough to keep her thoughts from driving her crazy.

It was just so… frustrating. How someone could just waltz in as if they owned the damn place, even if they technically did, and order it to be closed within a few weeks so that it can be demolished for a shopping mall.

It pissed her off beyond reason.

Maka didn't care who this Medusa person was, or what kind of power she held. All she cared about was how that witch had hurt someone she loved, and was trying to take away something she loved – something that held memories of a simpler time with the one she loved most.

She didn't realise she was writing so furiously until she accidentally punctured her paper by dotting her _i _a little too hard.

With a groan of frustration, Maka quickly tried to smoothen the tiny tear to make it less obvious, and soon let out another groan, this time of annoyance, as the familiar voice of Black Star dominated the library. There was a plethora of shushes from all over the library, and Maka was glad no one could see her face at that moment, red from secondhand embarrassment. The blush had barely begun to fade before Black Star bounded into her little corner.

"Yo, Maka!" He greeted, rushing over to join her where she sat, hopping on to the table.

"Black Star…" Maka sighed in exasperation, rubbing her hands over her face. "Please don't sit on the table. There are chairs for a reason." She lifted her hands off for a moment to glare at him, "What are you even doing here? I thought you didn't know this place even existed."

"Didn't." He answered simply, completely missing the insult Maka had aimed at him.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Another voice joined them, this one as familiar and more comforting to Maka. "I kinda told him you were upset and he was worried." Soul pulled out an unoccupied chair across from Maka, smiling apologetically.

She sighed, unable to feel as betrayed as she wanted to considering how touched she was that Black Star was so worried just because she was upset.

Black Star avoided her gaze, but she still smiled at him. He cleared his throat, "Yeah of course! A God has to worry about his followers, ya know?"

At that, both Maka and Soul let out a sigh, facepalming themselves simultaneously.

"Anyhoo," Black Star said, voice rising to his usual octave. Several people shushed them, this time sounding more agitated than compared to moments ago, and Maka gave Black Star a warning glare. For once, he seemed to understand her and miraculously actually lowered his voice as he continued, "Why are ya upset?"

At his words Maka felt her spirit, which had been lifted up for a moment, immediately come crashing down. She instinctively hunched into herself, hugging her arms to her chest as she replayed the conversation she had with Marie the day before.

_She had stopped directly in front of Marie's office, taking a deep breath before she had knocked gently. After a moment passed where she got no answer, Maka turned the doorknob slowly, relieved that it was unlocked._

"_Miss Marie?" The older woman's back was to her as she entered the room. Quietly, Maka had shut the door behind her. In the silence, Marie's soft sniffles were amplified, despite her desperately trying to soften them. Walking over to her, Maka wrapped her arms around the woman's waist; wanting to comfort as Marie had comforted her in her youth, when she had run to the library crying as her Mama and Papa fought yet again._

_Maka felt Marie still in her arms for a moment, and she gently hugged her just a little bit tighter, and after a moment felt the blonde shake a little. Marie placed a hand over her mouth to muffle her cries, but Maka just continued to hug her._

_After a while, Marie quiet crying stopped. Sighing, she rubbed her eyes, and Maka let her go. _

"_I'm sorry Maka." Her voice lilted up at the end, obviously attempting to sound cheerful. "Ah… It's so silly, crying in front of you." Marie rubbed her eyes again, and then gave Maka a tearful smile. _

_Maka felt a little angry at her words, but more than that, she felt hurt. Really hurt._

"_Mi-… Marie-san." Like she had done with Azusa, Maka reverted back to the title she had called Marie with when she was younger, and the result was instantaneous. Marie's fake smile immediately crumbled off her face, and her lips began trembling again. "Marie-san… What did she say?"_

"They want to tear down the library and build a mall instead." Maka forced out, eyes squeezed shut. After a tense moment of silence, Maka cracked open one eye to see how the boys had reacted to her news.

Soul was staring at her, mouth slightly agape, looking horrified.

Black Star's mouth was open too, but after a few more seconds, his face quickly changed. He seemed to be trying hard not to smile, but of course, Black Star wasn't known for his self-restraint. He burst into loud laughter, ignoring the furious shushing that was aimed at him from all directions, clutching his stomach as he doubled over from laughing too hard.

When he finally seemed a bit composed, he looked at Maka, who, after looking properly offended, was just full-on glaring at him. Wiping a tear from his eye, he said, "_Seriously_, that's why ya're so upset?"

Honestly, he should have known better than to make Maka angry in a library.

After all, he remembered as he lay on the floor, head throbbing painfully, they were surrounded by books.

The head librarian had come to check out the commotion, but when she saw Black Star groaning on the floor, clutching his head in pain, she decided to just pretend she never saw anything.

Opting that the safer option was to leave his friend on the floor, Soul turned back to look at Maka, who was looking even sadder now.

"Don't listen to him Maka, dude's an idiot."

She sighed. "I know that. But… if he reacted that way, I'm just wondering how the public will react when they hear the news." Maka placed her arms on the table, leaning towards Soul, "At first I thought that they'd be against the whole idea, and we'd have a huge city-wide protest against what Medusa wants. But…" She glanced down at Black Star, who was finally regaining his bearings. "What if they react like he did?"

She chuckled softly, green eyes downcast. Seeing her like that made Soul feel sad too. Unconsciously, he reached across the table and placed his hand on hers. At his touch she jumped a little, but then smiled down at their hands sadly.

"It's just that, the library is pretty much the only place where I have good memories with my mother left. We used to visit the library every weekend when I was a kid, and we'd read all the fairy tale books." Maka laughed, but it sounded sad, "Sometimes Papa would tag along too. And he'd _never_ look at another woman, because he loved listening to Mama read the stories out loud too."

She was silent for a while, letting Soul's touch comfort her, before she asked him quietly. "Do you think it's a stupid thing, to want to keep this library?"

"Of course I don't!" He answered with so much reverence that Maka was a little taken aback. "That library means a lot to you, and I'm sure it means a lot to other people too." He stroked her hand with his thumb as he spoke to her, and Maka had a feeling that he didn't realise what he was doing. Not that she minded though.

Soul looked at her, a determination blazing in his red eyes that ignited a spark of it in her own. "I don't care who this Medusa person thinks she is, we won't let her take the library."

The sudden clapping made both of them jump in their seats. "Well said, my follower. Seems like I've taught ya well."

Soul retracted his hand from Maka's as he turned to face their friend, and she tried not to dwell on the fact that she felt a little empty without his comforting touch.

"What's with the sudden change of heart?"

Black Star stood, dusting himself off and then placing his hands on his waist. "I just didn't realise it meant so much to ya." He said, looking at Maka, tentatively smiling a small smile at her, hoping she could see the apology he had concealed under those words. At the small inclination of her head, Black Star knew it meant he had been forgiven, and his smile grew wider.

He slammed a hand down on the table, looking at both Soul and Maka.

"We'll save the library." He promised, and Soul nodded his agreement and own silent promise. Maka beamed.

"Just one question…" Black Star said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. The two of them looked up at him expectantly.

"Where's the library?"


	3. Chapter 3

Maka thanked Soul as she got off his bike, handing him his helmet. As per usual, he was dropping her off for work. What wasn't as usual though, was him taking off his own helmet and swinging off his bike too.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, as he turned off the engine and pocketed the keys. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"We'll need more information if we're gonna do this right, right? It'll be easier if I come with you." He walked up to her, standing next to her, "Sides, I'm curious to see how you work." He told her, smirking slightly, before walking ahead.

Maka watched him walk ahead, cheeks slightly heated up at his casual words. He had never expressed an interest in watching her work before. In fact, he had been quite clear in his disdain at her job, which he deemed 'uncool'. It wasn't until she saw Soul waiting for her impatiently at the entrance of the library did she remember she had to be in the library too.

She hurried over to him, blushing slightly, pointedly ignoring his smirk that had grown wider. Pushing the doors open, she walked in first instead, not waiting for him. Maka smiled satisfied at his grunt as the glass doors nearly smashed him in the face.

At the front desk, Azusa was bent over, furiously writing on multiple pieces of papers at once. As they neared her, her head shot up, and she looked slightly disheveled, which was saying something. Soul immediately retreated a step, looking more than a little intimated.

Maka didn't blame him – in fact, she'd say he was smart to distance himself away from the ticking time bomb Azusa currently was.

"You're finally here!" The older woman exclaimed, quickly flipping through a stack of documents. Maka decided the wiser choice was to not remind her that she was actually ten minutes early.

"Y-yeah. And, urr, Soul wanted to come to."

Her head snapped up, looking past Maka at the boy she had failed to notice the first time. Soul gave a small wave.

She nodded, seemingly to herself, and mumbled a few things. Then, she turned to them again, "You can help Maka with the shelving."

Both Maka and Soul jumped, though Maka then proceeded to burst into a fit of giggles while Soul continued to just stand there open-mouthed. After a moment passed he seemed to regain his bearings and stepped forward, words of denial dying on his lips at Azusa's expectant gaze. He sighed, resigning to his fate, though that didn't stop him from glaring at Maka, who just smiled at him.

"Come on Soul, we've got books to shelve."

It took him a while to understand exactly how to sort them out, despite it looking so simple. He felt seriously uncool when he took a few minutes to figure out exactly where to place a book, while Maka walked back and forth behind him, slotting books neatly left, right and centre.

To her credit she didn't say anything, though the smug grins that she directed at him were enough of a 'it's not so simple now is it?' to him.

As he went to grab his fifth book, he saw her struggling to reach the top shelf, despite her long legs (not that he noticed them or anything) giving her a serious height advantage compared to others. Soul was about to offer his help, when Maka sighed, disappeared around the corner and reappeared again barely a moment later, a step in hand. She placed it on the ground, stood on it, and proceeded to place a number of books in their respective positions, pulling herself along the shelf with her strong arms and the wheels of the step.

He didn't realise he was staring at her until a book was thrown in his face.

As he rubbed his red face, he saw Maka glaring at him, red in the face too. She whispered furiously at him, "Stop staring at my ass, pervert!"

Soul spluttered. "I-I wasn't!"

But now that she had mentioned it it's not like he could _not_ notice it. It was right there!

And it was really cute.

And there's a book in the face again.

"I wasn't looking!" Soul said, rubbing his nose furiously, both for fear of getting a nosebleed and because it ached from having a book slammed into it. "There's nothing there to look at anyway. Kinda like your boobs, eh Tiny Tits?" He lied, resorting back to the nickname he had reserved for her. A desperate attempt to stop her from thinking that he was a perverted guy, because he knew from her experience with her father that those were the kinds of guys she hated most.

Maka frowned, both offended and a little hurt. Hadn't they already gone past that phase; he hadn't called her Tiny Tits in a few weeks. She'd grown accustomed to it, but there was still a pang of hurt each time, like someone poking her heart with the sharp end of a stick.

She turned away from him, stepping down from her elevated platform, and taking a stack of books from the small pile they had left. "I'll go put these ones, and then we can go meet Ms. Marie." Her voice was soft, and she was mumbling out most of the words. Soul didn't have to look at her face to know that he had screwed up really badly.

As she walked away, Soul facepalmed himself, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

He _really _needed to have that feelings talk with Wes.

Seriously uncool.

It took him a few minutes to put the few books that were left in his care into their rightful places, and by the time he went to find Maka, she was already done. Leaning against a wall, she didn't wait for him before she pushed herself off and made her way to Marie's office. He sprinted a bit to catch up with her, and they walked in silence.

Soul chanced a glance at her, and saw that she was resolutely ignoring him, big green eyes staring ahead. So she was still pissed at him. Just great.

Once they reached their destination, Maka rapped on the door lightly, and Soul heard a woman giving them permission to enter. He stayed close behind her, though hung back when she went forward to hug the older woman, who squeezed her back just as tightly.

Ms. Marie, as Maka referred to her, was a beautiful woman in his eyes. Long blonde hair hung around her face, matching bright golden eyes. The fact that one was covered by an eye-patch didn't detract from her appearance at all. Her face was friendly, and vaguely familiar.

Soul tilted his head, looking intently at her face, trying to remember where he had seen her before – the library was out of the question since he had never hung around long enough after dropping Maka off to see any of her colleagues. It wasn't until Maka had introduced him to her and they were shaking hands did her remember, the memory most likely jogged by Marie's question.

"Soul, it's good to finally meet you in a healthier state! Are you recovering well?" She asked earnestly, smiling pleasantly at him.

Ah, right. She was the one who had came running to their aid in the pouring rain, even before Spirit and the ambulance had arrived. He remembers Maka's sobbing, but through his pain-induced hazy vision he hadn't realised that she had been trying to talk to someone over the phone.

It made sense that her first instinct had been to call the one closest to them.

Warm hands, he remembers, as he smiles lightly back and tells her that he's fully recovered now. She had warm hands that had been pressed onto his chest to try and stem the bleeding before Maka had wrenched off her jacket and soft fabric had taken over instead.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're alright." Marie told him, clasping her hands together. "Though the question I have now is what are you doing here? Not that I mind you being here," She said hurriedly, though Soul was more amused than offended, "Just… curious."

At those words, she very significantly looked between Soul and Maka, and not-so-discreetly wagged her eyebrows suggestively at Maka, who immediately raised her hands in denial.

"Oh! Oh no it's not! He's not! Nothing like that, Marie-san!" She said quickly, face slowly turning red. Soul felt his own burning up, but instead opted to look affronted from her very blatant denial of that accusation.

"Is being with me _that _bad?" He asked her, careful not to sound too eager to know her answer.

Her head whipped around to look at him, pigtails flying. "Of course not!" She almost yelled, "Being with you wouldn't be bad at all!"

"Ooooh." Marie grinned as Soul gaped at Maka. "Is that a hint, Maka?"

"What?" She asked, before realization on exactly what she had just said dawned on her, and her cheeks burned even redder, "No! I mean, yes. But no! I mean. Marie-san…" The teen whined, covering her blushing face with her hands.

Marie giggled, as though enjoying their embarrassment. Which she probably was.

Soul decided it was the nice ones you had to look out for.

Maka cleared her throat. "Anyway, back to the reason why Soul's here." She looked at Marie, "He wants to help make sure they don't take the library."

At that, Marie's smile dropped slightly. "I see… Well, I appreciate you wanting to help, Soul dear, but I'm afraid this whole thing is out of our hands." She smiled sadly, while Maka looked like she wanted to say something. Soul beat her to it though.

"You can't just give up like that!" He told her, and Maka nodded her head fervently.

"Soul's right! The library's been in the city far longer than anything else – it's a historical monument!" Maka added enthusiastically, and this time Soul was the one nodding. "It's full of memories for so many people, we can't just let her destroy it, at least not without a fight."

Marie was leaning against her desk, weight on her hips. Her arms were folded, and she was looking at them almost sternly; it reminded Soul of his mother.

"This place matters a lot to you, Maka, and I know that." She looked to Soul, "But I don't understand why you seem so concerned with its future."

"Whatever matters to Maka matters to me too," He told her truthfully.

The blonde nodded, then sighed heavily. "I appreciate your concern, both of you. I understand, Maka, I really do." This time she looked over at Maka, "It's as much of a home to me as it is to you."

She stood up and walked to behind her desk. "But what you both don't understand is it's not that simple." Marie bit her bottom lip nervously, but then nodded to herself, seemingly settled on something.

"I don't know if I should be telling you this, but the Gorgon Empire is more than what it seems. There's a reason Medusa," Her voice dripped with hatred at that name, "Always seems to get what she wants."

Both teenagers backs' straightened, red and green eyes trained solemnly on the woman in front of them. "To put it simply, the Gorgons have more power than they rightfully should, and they didn't get it by playing fair."

Then Marie slammed her hands on her desk, making both Soul and Maka jump, and frowned, "I'm not about to give up on my library so easily either. The playing field might not be fair." Her hands clenched into fists, and her next words were laced with determination, "But she chose the wrong opponent to mess with."

Once they exited the library, after Maka had waved goodbye to the faces she had come to known, Soul whistled appreciatively.

"Your boss sure is a cool woman."

Maka smiled, remembering how upset Marie had been barely a day ago. "Yeah, she always pulls through." She skipped ahead in front of him, hands clasped behind her back as she turned back to beam at him. "And we have to do our part too."

"Yeah," Soul agreed, reaching her and taking out her helmet for her. As he passed it to her, she continued, "We can meet up at my place tomorrow, and we should tell the others too. They'll agree to help right?"

Soul raised an eyebrow at that, before putting on his helmet. "You know that Tsubaki and Liz and Patty would do pretty much anything for you."

Maka blushed slightly. "I'd do the same for them."

"And we've already got Star's support… It's just Kid left." He chuckled slightly, revving the engine as Maka settled in behind him. "You could just blackmail him with tipping over all of his picture frames like we did yesterday. Did you see him on the court? Dude turned into a beast."

Maka giggled, shaking her head. "That's low… But I'm not above it at all."

Soul grinned.

The next day, as Maka had planned, the seven teenagers were seated around Kid's dining room table. The latter had been very open with his house since the beginning of their friendship in elementary school, and this was especially shown when he shared his home with Liz and Patty, who had been homeless a few years ago.

Of course, the two sisters had also given him something in return – a family.

His father was an incredibly busy man, being part of the Death City council and also the principal of Shibusen High, and thus Kid had a reasonably lonely childhood. Befriending Maka and Black Star in elementary school, and then Soul in middle school, had eased that in some ways.

However being able to share a home with two people had been on a completely different level altogether.

"So, Maka, why ya called us here?" Black Star said, leaning in his chair such that it was balancing on its two hind legs, and placing his feet on the table.

"Black Star, please do not put your dirty feet on my table." Kid told him exasperatedly, "You're going to ruin it's symmetry."

The blue haired boy just grinned mischievously at Kid, swaying his feet on the table. "Oh yeah, watcha gonna do bout it?"

Black Star didn't even see the nail clipper flying towards him before it was wedged right in the middle of his forehead. While it didn't actually cause any physical damage towards him, it did cause him to lose his balance and tipped his chair forward, feet crashing onto the floor. He frowned up at it, before plucking it out and used it to point accusingly at Liz.

"What the hell?"

The girl blew on her freshly cut nails, simply saying, "It took Kid five hours to get everything on this table to look symmetrical and I'll be damned if I let you ruin it."

Patty laughed, nodding her head vigorously next to her sister. Kid smiled warmly at the both of them.

It was then that Maka, who had been watching the entire exchange silently the whole time beside Soul, clapped her hands together. Everyone looked over at her, and she started on the speech she had prepared.

"Alright, I asked you all to come here today because there is some really important news I need to share. You know how I work in the library part-time, right?" Everyone at the table nodded. "Well, they're going to tear it down for a shopping centre."

She let that information sink in for a moment, as everyone, with the exception of Black Star and Soul who already knew, let out varying exclamations of shock at her news.

Kid frowned, asking, "Are you aware of whose plan this is?"

Soul answered for her, "Medusa Gorgon, from the Gorgon Empire."

Tsubaki's eyes widened slightly as she straightened when she heard that name. "The Gorgon Empire?"

"Apparently. Why, you know them?" Liz asked, and Tsubaki nodded her head slowly.

"If I'm not wrong that's the company my landlord is answering to."

"But then that means they've also got a hand in residential affairs." Maka frowned, folding her arms. "I wonder what Marie-san meant by them having more power than they should."

Kid looked at Maka, "She said that? Odd…" He was silent for a moment, frowning, before he added on uncertainly, "Now that I think about it, I do recall Father having an argument with someone over the phone, when I was younger."

Soul sat up. "Do you remember what it was about?"

Kid shook his head. "No, it was a few years ago. However, I do remember Father sounding very agitated, and when he saw me, he immediately hung up on the person on the other line."

"That's really weird. I don't ever remember Mr. Death sounding angry, do you?" Liz looked over at Patty, who shook her head, frowning.

"Never ever," she clarified.

"This is… getting really complicated," Soul added, scratching his head. Silence fell upon the group as they all frowned and thought about what they had just heard. Suddenly, Black Star banged his fist on the table, and howled.

"The hell's going on? I'm damn confused!"

"For once," Maka told him, "I actually feel the same way."

Liz frowned, blowing on her nails in frustration. "I don't even get it. I mean, it's just a library, why's this Medusa person so intent on getting it?" There was a pause, before she turned to Maka, "No offence to you."

"None taken," the younger girl replied, though she was a little miffed. What did she mean _just _a library?

Once again silence befell upon the group, and this time Tsubaki was the one to break it. "Liz has a point," she started, ignoring the blonde's retort of 'of course I do', "There are many other buildings in Death City that can be torn down to have a mall built instead. Why the library? It's still in good shape, from what I remember."

"Yeah it is," Soul agreed, having seen so firsthand just yesterday.

Black Star stood up, pounding the table. "I know why!" he shouted, and the others looked up at him expectantly. He threw his head back and laughed, "It's so obvious! M' surprised y'all didn't realise it." He paused, before thumping his chest in a self-satisfied manner.

"I guess only a God could see it."

Maka rolled her eyes as Tsubaki sighed into her hands, "Just get on with it Black Star."

"Patience is a visage, Maka."

"Ok, first of all, it's virtue," she corrected him, "And secondly, you're one to talk about patience."

"Ok, ok." Tsubaki said, always the mediator between them, "Black Star why don't you say why you think Medusa's aiming for Ms. Marie's library?"

"It's easy," he told her. "It's cause of Stein, duh."

There was an awkward silence as everyone tried to process what he was saying. It was Patty who spoke up first.

"Wait just a minute. Are you saying that Medusa and Ms Marie and Professor Stein were in some weird love triangle thing?"

Black Star snapped his fingers and nodded, "Yeah exactly!"

Maka shook her head. Sure, she was aware of the fact that her current high school professor and boss were once an item in high school, thanks to her parents' old high school photos, but it made no sense to her because she didn't remember Medusa in any of the photos she had seen.

"Did Medusa even know the Professor in high school? Did she even attend Shibusen?" Kid asked, and Maka nodded.

Black Star shrugged, "Dunno. Maybe she was a school nurse or something. But it's an angle."

"Which we will never look at again," Liz stated resolutely, then shuddered. "I do not want to think about my professor's high school sex life. It's bad enough that he teaches biology."

"At least you don't know the _both_ of them," Maka murmured, and then shuddered too.

"Aaand I think we're sidetracking a bit too much here." Tsubaki intervened, and Maka and Liz blushed.

The former then cleared her throat, "Tsu's right. Ok. We'll need to devise a plan to stop them… Anyone have any ideas?"

Everyone frowned, looking deep in thought. Then, Black Star slammed his fist on the table for the second time.

"I say we just go to their building and punch them in the face."

"Black Star!" Tsubaki admonished, looking over at Maka for support. However, the younger girl actually seemed to be mulling over the idea, "Maka-chan! You're not actually considering his idea, right?"

"Ah."

"Maka-chan! Violence is never the answer!"

Maka put her hands up in surrender, "Yeah, yeah, I know… But it would be really satisfying."

As Tsubaki lectured both Maka and Black Star, from across the table, Kid shot Soul an amused look, "You're a bad influence on her." Soul only smirked at him in return, looking quite proud of himself.

"Alright." Tsubaki said seriously, "Does anyone have any ideas that don't go against the law?"

Everyone sighed and slumped into their seats again, but after a while Soul spoke up, "I have an idea. I was thinking we could stage a protest. You know, with signs and stuff, right outside their building. That way, they can't ignore us."

"Is that legal?" Tsubaki inquired, shooting a look at Maka who pouted and turned her head away.

Kid leaned on the table, resting his chin on his hands, "As far as I remember, as long as it's a peaceful protest, it's completely legal."

"But if it's only seven of us…" Patty started.

"It'll be quite pathetic." Liz finished.

"That means we have to get people to join us!" Maka said, looking enthusiastic at the prospect, "We can put flyers all around the school, and ask around."

There was an awkward silence at her words, and after fervent glares from both Liz and Tsubaki, Soul cleared his throat, "Well, Maka, that sounds like a great idea. Just that… how do I say this?" The others all just lifted their shoulders, not looking him in the eye. Soul frowned, then sighed.

"Look, Maka… What I'm, we're, trying to say is that you might not get as much support as you would have liked about the library," he told her, and when her shoulders slumped, he felt like punching himself in the face.

"Soul has a point," Kid quipped in, "It's not that we don't believe people there will be students who do want to save the library. They might just be… rarer."

Liz nodded, smiling at Maka apologetically, "Truthfully Maka, if I weren't your close friend, and I didn't know how much the library means to you, I wouldn't bat an eye to it being demolished. In fact," she added nervously, pressing her fingertips together, "I would be one of their biggest supporters."

There was silence as everyone looked at Maka, who didn't look as upset as they expected her to be. In fact, instead of scowling, she seemed to be trying not to smile.

"You guys are silly," she said cheerfully, "Of course I don't expect the whole school to rally behind us, but… I don't expect no one to either." She smiled to herself, then directed her next words at Liz, "You said it yourself. It's because you see how much it means to me that it matters to you now."

She leaned forward, looking at all of them now, "We just have to show that to everyone now."

Kid sighed. "I admire your optimism, but the chances of this working out…"

"Are very slim," she finished for him, "But I think we can do it."

"Hell yeah we can!" Black Star shouted, then pointed an accusing finger at Kid, "We have no time for your negativity, follower! Ya just hafta believe we can do it!"

"Yeah," Patty added cheerfully, "If we all work together, we can do anything in the whole wide world! Right, Maka?"

Looking around at her friends' determined faces, Maka grinned.

"Yeah!"

The alarm rang in what seemed to Maka barely two minutes after she had shut her eyes, having spent the night before on Skype with Soul discussing and designing the flyers that were to be pasted all over the school.

Wiping the drool of the corner of her mouth, she stretched, rubbing her cat, Blair, who had slept curled up at her side.

"G'morning, Sleeping Beauty," she greeted groggily, giggling as Blair pawed at her. There was a tap on the door and her father's voice, always so bright and cheerful even though the day had barely even started, told her that breakfast was ready, and if she was fast maybe he could give her a lift in his patrol car.

As she listened to his footsteps grow softer and softer, she patted Blair on the head again, "Looks like we really have to get up." The feline purred, and then went back to snuggling in her comforter, completely ignoring Maka's pout.

"Show-off." The girl muttered as she dragged herself out of bed, to which Blair just gave off a light snore.

Half an hour later, Spirit grinned widely as Maka joined him at the table.

"I made your favourite! Gotta chase those Monday Blues away, right?" He told her, and Maka smiled at the two, slightly burnt sunny-side ups on her plate, complete with the bacon that curved upwards at the ends.

As she dug in after a quick thank you, her father continued talking, updating her on the news.

"Oh, and I heard about the library from Sid, who heard from Nygus, who heard from Marie… Are you okay, sweetie?"

Marie gulped down her last bit of egg, then shrugged. "It's not a nice place to be for sure," she told him, and he nodded sympathetically, "But we're definitely not going down without a fight!"

Spirit chuckled, "You have the same kind of enthusiasm your mother had."

Maka fell silent at that, though he didn't seem to notice, taking the dishes and running them under water, "Just don't fight too hard! You don't know who you're dealing with. The Gorgons… They definitely aren't people you want to mess with." His voice grew harder at the end, and Maka frowned.

"What's that mean, Papa?"

"Ah, nothing nothing!" He said cheerily, smiling brightly, "I don't know what came over me!"

Maka frowned, knowing that he father was hiding something from her. "Papa, does this have anything to do the library?"

"What, pfft, no…" Though he didn't sound very convincing.

"Papa, are you sure?"

"Super sure!" But there were cracks in his cheery tone, a hint of desperation thrown into the mix.

"Because if there is, then may-"

"Maka, just drop it alright!" Spirit told her, agitation clear in his voice. One look at her face though, and his face fell. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Look, sweetheart, just forget I said anything alright? The Gorgon Empire… It's better to stay clear of them."

"But why?" Maka asked again, not willing to just let the subject go. The flyers for their protest felt heavier on her lap than a minute ago.

Spirit sighed again, "Honestly, I don't know _why_. They're as much of a mystery to me as to you. And really," he looked at her steadily, "That's what makes them so dangerous."


	4. Chapter 4

"_That's what makes them so dangerous."_

What he had told her only made her even more confused about what was going on. Infuriated, she let out a loud groan, right in the middle of the hallway. Several students backed away from cautiously.

Throughout the rest of the day, she wore a frown on her face, trying to make up a theory, any theory, as to the Gorgon Empire. She even scribbled down a few ideas, though crossed them out just as quickly.

It just didn't make any sense to her.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Soul asked, when all of them were sitted around the empty classroom, the table filled with Maka's flyers in the middle.

Patty stood up, walked to the middle and emptied out the contents of her bag. Bottles of glue fell out, and she grinned.

"We gotta paste all the flyers. And talk to people."

"We'll go as twos, and threes," Liz said, "Patty, Kid and I. Tsu with Black Star, and Maka with Soul. So we got the persuasiveness of this," she flexed her biceps, "and this," she fluttered her eyelashes.

Maka laughed, "Very persuasive."

"I know right?" Liz grinned, passing them a stack of flyers. Then, she smirked at Soul, "I bet if you did that, Maka, boys will be lining up to protest with us later on."

As Maka blushed, Soul frowned, not liking the sound of that. As Liz was walking over to the others, she winked at him, and flexed her biceps again. He could see her mouth, "Use them."

"Soul."

"Huh?"

"You okay?" Maka asked, leaning closer to him. It suddenly felt a little too hot. He chuckled nervously, pulling at the collar of his jacket.

"Yeah, totally fine. Very fine. Super fine," he answered, edging back from her a little. She frowned, looking not very convinced at all, but then shrugged.

"Okay…" Maka stood up, dusting off her skirt, "We should get going."

Before they even took a few steps from out of class though, Liz's scream brought them back.

"What happened?" Soul asked, and Liz pointed at the poster on the wall silently. Kid sighed, then explained.

"We were going to put this flyer, and she saw… this," he gestured at the poster, and Maka and Soul moved forward to look at.

In big, bold, blue letters, prom was calling.

Maka just sighed, patting Liz before she pulled Soul away with her.

For the next two hours, they handed out flyers to their fellow peers, and even to Professor Stein, who took one look at the piece of paper and smiled.

"Biting more than you chew. This will be interesting to witness."

As they watched his retreating figure, they both turned to each other.

"Cryptic," they said together.

As they wandered around the school, they noticed how mostly every corner of the school had been covered by the flyers – probably Patty's doing. It seemed to be gaining attention, as they saw people stopping by to read it.

Maka grinned.

"Hey, do you think they went to our own library to hand these out?" She asked Soul, who shrugged, "Cause who else would be more concerned about the library than librarians, right?"

"Makes sense." Soul agreed, and they both made their way to the school library.

Turns out Maka wasn't right; the librarians didn't seem too enthusiastic about the protest, though they did manage to convince their fellow classmate, Kilik, to join them. It seemed he had two young cousins he always brought to the library, so he definitely didn't want that tradition gone.

"Well, at least we have one confirmed attendance," Soul attempted to lighten the mood.

"I guess." Maka pouted, walking around the library, picking out books at random and skimming the summary. Soul looked at her blankly, but decided against saying anything lest he get hit on the head by one again.

They weren't really looking where they were headed, and Maka gasped when she realised they were in a section she had never visited before. Soul just watched amused as she took book after book off its shelf, nodding his head in when she ran up to him and excitedly told him it was a whole section full of historical romance.

In fact, she was so engrossed in the books and he was so engrossed in watching her that they both didn't realise they were being watched until they turned around and saw someone staring at them.

"Geez." Soul said, rubbing his chest where his heart had nearly jumped out of, "Don't just sit there and stay quiet would you? Nearly gave me a heart attack back there."

The person sat in the corner, one page open in front of her. Or him, Soul couldn't really tell. She wore a gloomy expression and a long black dress. In fact, if it weren't for her brightly coloured hair, Soul would have thought she was on her way to a funeral.

That weird person opened her mouth, "Well, this _is_ a library."

Maka burst into laughter as Soul flushed, saying "She's got a point." Grinning, Maka made her way over to the strange person, sitting down across from her.

"Hi, I'm Maka! And that uncool dude over there is Soul," she held out her hand, "We're both sophomores. I don't think I've ever seen you around before. What's your name?"

"C-Chrona." The kid stammered.

"Cool name." Maka complimented, and Chrona blushed. Soul just rolled his eyes; she was completely misusing the word 'cool' again!

"So… Chrona," she continued, fishing out a flyer from the think stack she had left, "I see you like books. Which means you like libraries, right?"

"I- I guess so." Chrona didn't seem so sure when she said that though, and Soul just shook his head. Maka was just way too friendly sometimes.

Maka smiled as she handed Chrona the flyer, though she didn't notice her eyes grow marginally wider as she read what was on it. Chrona was gripping the piece of paper so tightly she teared up the edges a little bit.

"… So I hope to see you there!" Maka finished, and Chrona just nodded slowly.

"I'll try and make it."

"Awesome. Now I'll leave you to read in peace." Maka held out a hand to Soul, who grabbed it and pulled her up. Smiling, she turned around before they rounded the corner, "I hope to see you on Saturday, Chrona!"

Saturday came faster than any of them expected, the week just passing by in a blur of pop quizzes and homework.

Maka lay nervously in her room, scratching Blair's head more fervently as the hours ticked by. At five to nine, she got dressed, and patted her cat one last time for good luck before leaving. Her father had the late shift so she didn't need to explain where she was going; she was also nearly a hundred percent sure that he wouldn't let her leave the house if he knew what she was planning to do.

Soul picked her up, and they drove in silence to the Gorgon Empire, a huge tall building in the middle of the city.

They were the last of the group to arrive, and Maka was more than a little disappointed to see that only five others had turned up, all of them sophomores as well; Ox, Harvar, Kim, Jacqueline and, as promised, Kilik.

"So, just remember this is a peaceful protest," Tsubaki reminded them all for the umpteenth time, handing out their signs, "We just try and get our point across, if not, we just leave, alright."

"Alright mum." Liz said, and Tsubaki swatted her with the sign.

"Okay," Maka said quietly, "Let's do this."

Together, the twelve of them marched to the entrance of the Empire, and stood outside, chanting 'Don't demolish the library!'.

From above, Medusa looked at the scene on the ground. Turning around, she asked, "What should we do, sister?"

In the shadows, Arachne smiled, "Don't worry. I've sent someone to deal with those little pests.

About half an hour of chanting later, Black Star let out a groan, and threw his sign on the floor.

"This is complete crap!"

"Hey, pick that sign back up!" Maka ordered, and he just rolled his eyes.

"What for?"

Soul sighed, putting his own sign down as he stretched his arms, "Star's right, we're not getting anything done this way. No one's even here to see this."

Liz put down her sign too, "I hate to admit it, but really Maka, it's not working out. We need to think of a better plan."

"Fine, I know that. But _right now_," she knelt down herself, reaching for the sign herself, "Just take your damn sign and hold it up."

Before she could grab hold of his sign though, a shadow loomed over her, stepping right in the middle of the sign.

"Your friends are right, girlie," a low voice

A man towered over her, sharp teeth pulled back in a malicious smile. Despite his appearance, Maka didn't seem fazed. Instead, she scowled, "Excuse me, you're standing on my sign."

"Maka," Soul warned, taking a step towards her, glaring at the man, who spared him a glance before smirking down at her again, "Stand up."

The others tensed up, knowing right away something would go wrong. Black Star's fists were already clenched tight.

She turned her glare to him, "You don't tell me what to do."

"No," the man said, grabbing her arm, "girlies should listen to their boyfriends."

He was on the ground before he even realised what was happening, Soul grabbing his collar.

"Don't you fucking lay a hand on her!" He shouted, punching the man in the face. However, he completely underestimated the strange man, and got socked in the face too. Despite a bleeding nose and torn lip, Soul didn't let go of his collar, and they rolled around on the ground.

"Soul!" Maka cried, but Liz held her back.

"Maka, don't! Look! That fucker brought friends." It was true, there were more men joining them. Black Star and Kid were already brawling, both working back to back, taking down one person after the other but there were more joining the fray.

"Shit." Patty swore, "Tsu behind you!"

Without even thinking Tsubaki turned around and punched the guy right in the face, and then covered her mouth in shock.

Ox, Harvar and Kilik were also trying to take down the men, but there were just too many of them. Kim looked like she was going to help them, but Jacqueline held her back.

Soon enough, the twelve of them were sitting in a pile. The boys were all nursing bruises, though Ox seemed to enjoy it since Kim was fussing over him.

Maka sat beside Soul, who was pressing a handkerchief, courtesy of Kid, against his nose, trying to stem the flow of blood. He had refused Maka's help when she offered it, but held on to her hand to show that he wasn't that mad at her.

"My parents are going to be so fucking pissed when they see me," he muttered, and Maka squeezed his hand consolingly. Liz scooted over to where they were, pulling out her make-up kit.

"I can help with that."

Ten minutes later, he looked, even if he didn't feel, as good as new, and was staring at the powder in wonder, "Magic."

Maka's laughter was cut short when police sirens blared through the night. She groaned, and hid her face in Soul's shoulder. Knowing her luck, the first person who would be there would be…

"Alright kids. Didn't your parents ever teach y- MAKA?!"

… her Papa.

"This your stop?" Spirit asked, looking over his shoulder as Soul.

After spending the past few hours in hold-in, and being bailed out by someone, the teenagers were exhausted. Spirit and Sid had taken pity on them, and split the kids between themselves, sending the other five home first before they went back for their own kids.

Soul nodded, saying a curt thank you to Spirit, and bidding goodbye to Maka and Tsubaki, who watched him go wearily.

Watching Spirit drive off, Soul sighed, walking up to his front door, filled with dread. Taking a deep breath, he opened the front door of his house quietly, hoping with every fibre of his being that his parents weren't still awake.

Of course, as usual, luck was never on his side, since he saw his parents' silhouetted by the dim light in the still on in the dining area. He groaned quietly, half-thinking that it would be much easier if he just pretended he didn't see them, and went on upstairs to his room.

He was tired, he was pissed, and he was hungry.

That was never a good combination to have a conversation with his father with.

Of course though, he had no choice but to walk towards his parents, knowing that delaying the inevitable verbal lashing would only make things that much worse.

Maybe he could just apologise; sure it would be half-assed, but he thought it was better than nothing. It always worked for Wes whenever he got in trouble… which was never at all. Damn it.

Dragging his feet across the floor – as he had always been specifically told not to by his mother – so as to alert them of his presence, Soul stopped behind their red, velvet sofa, that was actually a replacement to the one Soul had destroyed, in their words, by spilling soda on.

The lights flickered on, and he had a moment to appreciate how dramatic the lighting was – what with the chandelier and the moonlight and whatnot – before his father's voice boomed in the empty room.

"Where have you been?"

"Thought I already told you, old man," Soul drawled, leaning on the sofa. He knew he was riling the guy up, and really, he knew he shouldn't, but somehow his mouth never cooperated with his mind on that aspect.

"Got into a fight while we were doing our protest, got thrown into jail, got bailed out," he shrugged, "Y'know, the usual."

"Soul." His mother's voice warned him. Her bright, red eyes, the only thing either son had inherited from her, flashed dangerously, and he deflated a bit. His father was one thing, but he did respect his mother, and had no desire to make life more difficult for her than he already had.

But usually he still did.

He really was a useless son.

"Got into a fight, you say?" His father repeated, a mocking tone in his voice. There was a pause, before he said, "Come into the light, boy."

Soul stiffened. The light coat of makeup Liz had tried to apply to conceal his bruising face while they were in their cell had already worn off, he was sure of it. He clenched his fists; he really hadn't wanted to worry his mother.

"I said, boy, come into the light." Soul could practically hear the sneer in his father's voice, "I would like to see your face."

Baring his teeth slightly, he stepped forward. His mother's gasp of horror was a huge blow to his heart.

He knew what they saw; red, angry throbbing skin, courtesy of the guy who had socked him in the face.

"Oh, Soul. Why? Did we not raise you better than this?"

He shrugged, looking down. That look of disappointment on her face hurt more than his throbbing face.

"Well, I hope that managed to beat some sense into you."

Huh, so that's where he got his sense of humour from.

Who knew.

"Dear," His mother's voice was firm, looking at her husband sternly. Then, she turned to Soul.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean though. What protest?"

Oh right, he hadn't actually ever told them about the whole Maka-library fiasco. Well, better late than never. Grudgingly, he summarized what had happened over the past week, making sure to skip over the parts he didn't think they'd need to know, and avoiding mentioning any names apart from Maka and Black Star – the only ones they actually knew.

There was a moment of silence, before his father laughed.

Both him and his mother stared at him, wondering what he found so funny. Soul for one didn't find anything he said even remotely funny.

"Ah, after all this time wondering what was wrong with you," he addressed Soul, "It was really just your friends this whole time."

Soul immediately felt his body go cold.

"What are you trying to say?"

"It's fairly obvious, I believe. You need new friends."

He turned around as if the conversation was over, and although his mother looked at him sympathetically, she didn't say a word, instead standing up to follow her husband.

Soul stood rooted to the spot, fists clenched by his side.

"No."

That stopped them in their tracks, "What?"

_He remembered the first time he had met Maka; it had been in middle school. It had been his first day, and really, those first few hours had been a nightmare. He had never been the type to easily make friends. So during recess, instead of socializing with the other kids, he had wandered around the school, until he accidentally came across a room with a piano in it._

_He guessed it was the music room, looking at all the other musical instruments that were in it as he wandered in. Unable to help himself, he sat down on the small black bench. It squeaked a little under his weight, and as he lifted the case on it, a layer of dust coated his fingers. _

_As his fingers pressed against the cold keys, a wave of quiet calmness washed over him, and unconsciously, he began to play a melody he had composed in his head – a melody he had been too afraid to show his parents because they never liked it when he played anything other than what he was taught._

_He was barely aware of anything other than the music, so wrapped up in his own little bubble he had nearly jumped ten feet into the air when instead of the silence he had come to expect, there was thunderous clapping._

_Turning around, he saw a girl he recognized from his class – the pigtails and green eyes making her easy to remember. She was clapping enthusiastically, face bright, smile wide._

"_That was so good!" She told him, stepping forward, and Soul immediately leaned back slightly. It seemed like she noticed, but instead of being offended, she merely stayed where she was and clasped her hands in front of her._

"_Who was that by?" She asked, tilting her head. _

_Ears burning, he rubbed the back of his head, not meeting her gaze, "Urr, me. I know, it sounds really uncool bu-"_

"_Are you kidding? It sounded amazing!" She took another step towards him, "You're talent is the real deal!"_

_Soul stared at her. She probably didn't have any idea about music, from the way she highly praised what he himself thought a very bad composition. And yet…_

"_Thank you." He told her, turning around to face her again. As if knowing he meant that as an invitation, she beamed and walked towards him, holding out her hand. He took it._

_She nodded to herself as though satisfied with something, "My name's Maka Albarn."_

"_Soul Evans." _

Soul looked up at his parents, eyes blazing. "No. She's not someone I can lose."

His father stared at him, before he shook his head, "Has nothing gotten through your thick skull in all these years? You live under my roof, you live under my rules. Case closed."

The words left his mouth before he could even think about what he was saying, "Guess I can't live in this house anymore then."

His mother gasped, while his father glared at him, chest puffing out, the challenge clear in his voice, "Are you going against me, boy?"

The younger boy didn't back down. "Yeah," he smirked, "I am."

There was a heavy silence as father and son stared each other down, before the former shook his head slightly. "Very well. You have twenty minutes to pack up your things."

"Dear!" Soul heard his mother shout, but he was not willing to back down now.

"I'll only need ten." He said as he walked past them, ignoring his mother as she reached out for him.

In his room, he grabbed the duffel bag he kept below his bed, and started stuffing clothes into it, not really caring what they were. The leather jacket he always wore was on his back anyway. Very carefully, he placed a couple of his favourite CDs and games on the top of the pile before zipping the bag up.

Of course, he didn't forget his guitar, and after making sure he had enough picks in its case, he stood up. Soul took one last look at his room, regretting slightly over the fact he couldn't bring along the posters he had plastered all over his walls, and then opened the door and walked out.

He made a quick detour the bathroom and grabbed all his toiletries.

As he descended the stairs, his mother's teary face came into vision, and he had to resist the urge to just turn back around and unpack and pretend none of this had happened. But he couldn't though.

Like Maka had told him, it was more than the action itself – it was the point they were trying to get across through those actions.

No more would his life be dictated by his father. He would have the friends he wanted to have, play whatever he wanted to play on the piano…

"Soul dear, please don't go," his mother pleaded, holding out her hands to him. He carefully placed his guitar against the sofa before he walked over to her and engulfed her in a big hug; he was much taller than she was now.

"Sorry ma, but I just can't live here with the old man anymore." Gently, he detached himself from her, gripping her shoulders firmly, "You take care, alright? I'll call you."

She placed her hands on top of his, squeezing them. "Where will you go? You're underage, and you can't rent an apartment without any money." At that, she straightened. "Do you need money?"

Soul shook his head firmly. "Nope, I've got enough in my bank to hold me out for a while. Don't worry about me, Ma. I know what to do." It's not as if this was the first time he was thinking of how he would go about things if he ran away, though this was the first time he was actually going through with those thoughts.

He kissed his mother on the cheek, mumbled a quick 'I love you' and just like that, he walked out of the place he had called home, feeling freer than he had in a long time.

After walking a while, Soul stopped on the sidewalk, next to a dark, empty road. Guitar firmly in one hand, bag on his back, he pulled out his phone. Scrolling through his contacts, he stopped at the one he was looking for, took a deep breath and pressed the green button.

The other line rang for several seconds before a gruff, deep voice burst through the line.

"Who is this?" His voice was thick with sleep and annoyance, "And why are you calling at two in the morning?" Soul grinned.

"Rise and shine, big bro."


	5. Chapter 5

Rubbing her eyes, Tsubaki waved goodbye to Maka as she and her father drove away after dropping her off. She was grateful for that; no trains or buses were actually still open at two in the morning, and she didn't have enough cash on her at the moment to catch a cab.

Climbing the stairs up to her apartment slowly, the events of the night, or was it considered yesterday, replayed in her mind. Although she knew she should be ashamed of her actions, she couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself. Who knew a little rebellion could make someone feel so good?

It was no wonder Black Star always skipped school; the rush of going against authority must leave someone as hyperactive as him reeling. Of course, Tsubaki realised that it was probably her sleep-deprived, still-high-on-adrenaline self that was talking at the moment, and in the morning she'd go back to making sure Black Star actually stayed in school.

But for now she would allow herself to think it was pretty cool of him.

And, she had to admit, she had been pretty cool herself.

She socked a guy right in the face. Yeah, call her weak again.

Although she did find herself wishing it hadn't taken so long for that mystery person to bail them out, because now all the adrenaline that had kept her awake the past few hours was leaving her body and she just wanted to drop on the floor and sleep for days.

Which was exactly what she did the moment she landed on her bed.

She dreamt of skipping classes, and kissing Black Star senseless in every corner of the school.

And woke up to a nightmare.

The sounds of someone banging on her door jolted her from her sleep. Blearily, she looked around, half-certain it was just Black Star, popping by to ask her how she was after the whole fiasco yesterday before she realised, one, Black Star never actually used the door, and two, he never woke up before ten on weekends.

Grumbling to herself after seeing that the time was still only six-thirty in the morning, she tried to ignore the steady banging and curled into a tighter ball in her sea of pillows and blankets.

There was silence after that, and she was already falling asleep again when the banging started again – this was a lot louder, as if it was more than just fists pounding on the door.

"What's going on?" She spoke out loud, mostly because she couldn't hear her own thoughts with the ruckus going on. Untangling herself from her sheets, she rushed to open the door, not even caring that her hair was falling out of the bun she had tied it into before falling asleep.

"I'm opening the door, sheesh! Patience goes a long way!" She yelled, grabbing her keys and unlocking the door. Even before she had pulled it all the way open, big, buff, sweaty men, were pushing her aside. She barely had a second to get out of the way before a man bulldozed his way through her entrance, a big metal thing she didn't recognise spearheading the way.

Right before her eyes, they began to strip her apartment.

Tsubaki stared at them, eyes wide, mouth open, for a few moments. She had to be dreaming right? Was this even possible? Was this even legal?

Finally, she got her voice back. "H-Hey!" She marched over to one of the men taking down the photos she has painstakingly hammered into her wall, "Leave my stuff alone! What are you even doing here? Get out of my apartment!"

However, they paid her no heed, and continued taking down everything. The desk she had taken forever to put together, the TV she had saved up for months for – all of it, being brought out before her very eyes. Anger surged through her, and she was about to show them exactly what they were messing with when a cold hand wrapped around her raised fist, and a she heard a terribly familiar voice that sent a chills down her spine.

"Not so fast, sweetheart."

Wrenching her fist out of his grip, Tsubaki turned around and came face to face with the guy from yesterday, the one that had grabbed Maka and Soul had punched in the face.

"What are you doing in my apartment? Get out!" She screamed at him, trying to muster all the authority she could into that command, but he simply smirked.

"Your apartment? Well, sweetheart, I hate to break it to you, but you're only renting it," He dangled a creased looking piece of paper in her face, and as Tsubaki snatched it from him, he smiled lecherously, "It belongs to the Gorgon Empire."

She felt her blood run cold as she read the words at the top of the page, bolded and screaming at her.

An eviction notice.

She was being evicted from her apartment.

She was being evicted from her apartment right now.

"No," she whispered, and then raised her voice, hitting the man square in the chest with the paper clenched in her fist, "You can't do this. I didn't even get a notice before this! This isn't legal!"

He smiled, and in his eyes, Tsubaki could see the first traces of madness. Before she could pull her hand away, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close.

"This is as legal as legal is going to get in this city," he whispered into her ear, and Tsubaki squirmed. Suddenly, he turned to the rest of the men, "Let's give this babe a few minutes to pack up her… valuables. After all, we gotta respect the beautiful bitches, right?" He stroked her cheek with a finger, his long nails digging roughly into her skin, and Tsubaki had to use every ounce of self-control she had not to knee him right then and there.

She wrenched her hand from his grip, glaring at him, before marching with as much dignity as she could to her room, where she slammed the door so hard the remaining frames that still hung on her living room wall shook.

Inside her room, Tsubaki immediately went to work, packing her clothes quickly and efficiently, letting her anger simmer as long as she could to make sure the sadness and complete fear she knew she felt stay hidden.

She did not plan to show any weakness in front of that vile man.

Once her suitcase was filled to the brim, she found an old bagpack and stuffed whatever remaining items she had into it. She had no sooner zipped that up before her door was pushed open.

The man, with his unsightly metal piercing through the nose and oddly shaped hair, was standing in her doorway, arms crossed. He made a sound akin to one of disappointment. "Thought you woulda wanted to change. Now I can't get a good look at 'em melons."

She could feel her face burning, though it was more out of anger and offense than of actual embarrassment. "You're disgusting," she spat out, letting some of those emotions she felt seep through in those words.

"Nope, 'm Giriko," he smiled, still staring at her chest, "Maybe since I can't see, I can get a good squeeze o-"

He hadn't even finished his sentence before Tsubaki uppercutted him. As he doubled over grabbing his chin, she flexed her fist, and scorned down at him, "Never speak to me like that again."

"Why ya little bitch," he answered back, though he sounded more amused than anything. "I like 'em feisty."

This time she aimed for the crotch, and was met with the satisfaction of knowing she hit bull's eye. Through his doubling over and wince, she could make out a sadistic smile which creeped her out even more.

"I'm leaving, but tell me this. Is all this really over the library?"

He let out a bark of laughter, "Why the fuck would we want a library?"

She nodded, his words confirming her suspicions, "I see."

And with that, she walked out of her apartment, leaving behind the memories she had made over the past few years.

It was only until she was halfway to Black Star's house did she even realise she was walking towards it. She slowed down, ignoring passerbys' side-eyeing her, no doubt questioning why a young girl was walking with just her suitcase, hair in a complete mess, in the wee hours of the morning.

Oh, they had no idea.

Tsubaki sighed, deciding that if she was going to turn up at his home uninvited so early in the morning, she should at least look decent. With that, she retied her hair, and tried to convince herself that the reason she was even going to his house in the first place was because of the convenience and not anything else.

Which was partly true, since his house was the closest.

But really, she knew it was because she just needed somewhere to start crying, and no one made her feel more safe and comforted than he did.

After ten minutes of walking, she was in front of his house. Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell.

Moments later, after a lot of chattering coming from inside, Nygus opened the door. It took just one shocked look, one worried 'Tsubaki are you ok?', and one soft touch.

Tsubaki burst into tears.

Black Star woke up with a start as Nygus pulled the blankets off him, immediately retracting his legs at the sudden loss of warmth.

"Didn't need 'em… Just-" he mumbled, then yawned, "Just wanted 'em."

Nygus rolled her eyes, used to his excuse of not needing the blankets since 'A God doesn't get cold', "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. There's something important I need to tell you."

At that, Black Star sat up in bed straighter, rubbing the sleep out of eyes, "Everything alright?"

She sighed, sitting down next to him. Looking him in the eyes, she told him, "I need you to promise not to go crazy until afterwards, ok?" Black Star nodded.

"Tsubaki's in our kitchen right now, having breakfast with Sid."

Black Star let out a laugh, "That's all? Sheesh, that's not an emergency, that's just… weird."

Nygus sighed. "No, I'm not done yet. Listen carefully. Tsubaki's been evicted from her home."

Black Star cocked his head to one side, scratching the back of it, "What's ebicted?"

"Evicted," Nygus corrected patiently, "And it basically means that… at this moment, Tsubaki doesn't have a house. She's been thrown out."

Black Star blinked, then laughed, "Nice try Ma."

"I'm not joking, Black Star."

As Black Star looked at his mother's face, he knew she really wasn't. He had never wished to be more wrong.

_Tap tap tap._

Maka frowned in her sleep, turning away from the annoying tapping noise.

_Tap tap tap_

Still frowning, though know half-awake, Maka tried swatting away the incessant tapping, nearly pushing Blair off the bed. The cat meowed indignantly, before rolling on her side and drifting off to sleep again. After a few moments of silence, Maka smiled, believing the tapping to be gone.

_TAP TAP TAP_

This time her eyes flew open, and muttering furiously under her breath, tried untangling herself from her sheets before falling out of bed. Blair, woken up by the noise and movement, hissed at her before jumping on the nightstand, where she proceeded to curl into a ball amongst Maka's items.

Rubbing her eyes, she made her way to her window, not really registering what was happening until Black Star was sitting cross-legged on the edge of her bed, face solemn.

"Black Star?" She yawned, stretching, "What are y- Black Star?!" She repeated, staring at him in shock, before she slapped her hands to her mouth, hoping that her scream hadn't woken up her father. As his snores continued drifting down the hallway and into her room, undisturbed, she let out a sigh of relief. Then, she placed her hands on her hips and turned to Black Star.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered, looking at her clock. "It's two am! And why through the window? I do actually have a working front door."

Black Star just remained quiet, still with that hard look in his eyes that made Maka a little more nervous than she'd like to admit.

As the silence dragged on, Maka shifted her feet, "Is everything ok? Are Nygus and Sid alright?"

He looked up at her, "Yeah."

"Okay… Then, what's the matter?" She trailed off, not really sure what she wanted to ask.

Black Star looked her straight in the eyes, "Tsubaki."

Maka felt like her whole body had been dipped into ice-cold water. "Tsu? What's wrong with her, is she okay?!"

Black Star held out a hand, and she quietened. "I'm not sure. She's not hurt, physically at least. If she had been…" He flexed his hand, and Maka knew what he meant by that.

After letting her heart calm down a little, Maka went and cautiously sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. When he didn't shrug it off, Maka took it as a good sign, and asked, "So… what's wrong with Tsu?"

"She was thrown out of her house."

Maka stared at Black Star, looking for any signs that he was joking. But there weren't any.

"You're being serious…" She whispered.

Black Star pulled his gaze away from her, looking straight ahead. In the moonlight, his features were sharpened, and for the first time in her life, Maka felt scared of him.

"It's that stupid Gorgon witch. Tsubaki told us before that her apartment was under their watch. But we didn't even think about that when we went and pissed her off." He stood up and started pacing around her room.

Maka sat there, feeling the guilt settle in her stomach. She felt a light tug on her shorts, and smiled softly as Blair cuddled up to her, knowing her owner felt down. Scratching Blair's head, she looked at Black Star, who had stopped pacing and was now staring out of her window.

She didn't know what he saw when he looked out into the quiet streets of Death City, but she went to stand next to him, scooping Blair in her arms.

They stood there in silence before Maka spoke up, "I'm sorry."

"For?"

"Everything," she sighed heavily, hugging Blair closer to her, "I dragged you all into this. If Tsu hadn't been there… She would still have a house now."

Black Star didn't say a word for a while, but then looked down at her, "S'not your fault, Maka. It's that witch." His grip tightened on her window ledge, "They'll pay for this."

Seeing the determined expression on his face, Maka's resolve was cemented.

The Gorgons were going to regret the moment they decided to hurt her friends.

"It's not about the library anymore, is it?" Black Star asked, voice softer than Maka had ever heard it. In answer, she shook her head.

"I don't think it has been," she told him, "Even from the start… I don't think it's ever been just about the library."

He let out a scoff, "What bullshit."

"Agreed." Maka said, and he grinned, slapping her on the shoulder in what she was sure he meant as a friendly manner. He took a deep breath and shook his head vigorously, before smirking at her.

"Well, Maka, that was a good talk!" Without warning, his tone of voice reverted back to its usual loudness, and Maka had to resist the urge to slap her hands on his mouth, remembering that she had Blair in her arms. "I'll see you in school," he looked over at her digital clock, the time reading ten past two in the morning, "Tomorrow morning."

With that, he gave a two-finger salute and jumped out of the window, landing gracefully on a tree branch.

"Black Star!" Maka shouted, leaning out of her window so he could hear her. He turned back to look up at her. "Is Tsu staying at your place now?!"

"Don't worry!" He told her, grinning widely, "She's always got a home with me!"

With those words, he jumped off the tree, landing on the ground and breaking out into a sprint immediately.

Just in the nick of time too, as Maka's door opened and Spirit stumbled in, brandishing a baseball bat.

"Is everything alright?! I heard voices!"

Shutting her window, Maka turned around, "Everything's alright, Papa. Or they will be soon."

A few hours later, Maka, bleary-eyed and hungry, opened the fridge and grabbed her carton of strawberry milk, drinking straight from it.

"Looks like someone's hungry," her father teased, tightening his belt, "I bought you some those strawberry-jam buns you like so much."

That brightened up her morning, and she was already feeling more awake when she placed her carton back in. Awake enough to not completely miss the absence of her father's beers; he usually stocked up at the end of each week.

Looking around, she saw how most of his preferred foods, his coffee and peanut butter and cereal pops were all missing, although all of her food was still there.

Maka frowned, turning around to look at her Papa, who was just about to leave, "Papa. Where's all your food? Did you forget to buy them?" She asked, although she knew that was highly unlikely.

Spirit chuckled, "No, it's not that. It's just I'm a little tight on my budget this week," he grinned at her, "I can live without those for a few weeks. Gotta lessen the carb intake, y'know?" At that, he patted his completely flat stomach.

His words didn't sit well with her though, and she frowned, watching as he whistled happily while tying his shoelaces. What could he have spent so much money on? He hardly went to the bars anymore, opting to stay home and watch reality shows, and even if he did spend the day the night with a lady as he was prone to do, he never used up too much money on them…

It made no sense. What could have drained his money since last week?

Then it clicked.

"You paid for our bail," Maka stated, looking at her dad with wide eyes, "You paid for all our bail."

"Eh?" He said, then shrugged, "What was I supposed to do, let you guys stay there?" He smiled at her, "My daughter will always sleep comfortably if I can help it."

Feeling unspeakably touched, Maka walked towards him and wrapped her arms around him. Spirit stiffened for a moment, before he beamed and hugged her back with twice as much enthusiasm.

"I guess you can be a pretty cool Papa sometimes."


	6. Chapter 6

The next day in school, the first thing Maka did was scout for Tsubaki. Knowing her, she'd have made sure both Black Star and her got to school on time, and it was only ten minutes before classes were scheduled to start.

She spotted the both of them talking to Kid and the sisters, and pretty much ran towards them before flinging herself on Tsubaki. The older girl barely had even time to react before she was being squeezed to death.

"M-Maka! I'm happy to see you too!" She said, patting her on the back.

"Hugggg!" Patty cheered, hugging Tsubaki from the back and dragging Liz with her. Black Star and Kid watched bemusedly as the girls hugged, looking at each other with raised eyebrows.

Liz detached herself first, "As much as I love you girls, what's with the sudden greeting hug?"

"That was actually meant for Tsu," Maka said, "I'm so so so sorry Tsubaki. It's all my fault."

"Maka-chan, please. I don't blame you in any way, shape or form," Tsubaki reassured, hands firmly on Maka's shoulders, "What happened was… outside of our control."

"Woah woah, hold up," Liz said, gesturing for the both of them to stop, "What's with all these apologies?"

Patty nodded, "Yeah, what happened?"

"You haven't told them?" Maka asked Tsubaki, who shook her head.

"I didn't think there was a need to worry everyone…"

Liz clutched her tongue, swinging an arm over Tsubaki's shoulder and pulling her closer, "Babe, that just makes us worry even more."

And with that, Tsubaki told them in detail about what had happened to her Saturday morning. By the end, it took all Liz and Maka had to restrain Patty, who was adamant on marching straight to Medusa's office and punching her in the face.

"This is absolute nonsense," Kid said, looking at Tsubaki, "You should definitely pursue legal action – what they did has absolutely no place in the law."

She smiled at him, "Thank you, all of you, for your support, but… but right now I think it would be better if I just let it be." She raised a hand as both Kid and Liz opened their mouths to say something, "I've already spoken to Mr. Sid. He says that for the next few days he'll try and find out as much as he can about the Gorgon Empire."

"Pops' always told me no one can run away from the law," Black Star spoke up, "And I believe him."

The others all nodded, agreeing with Sid's words.

Tsubaki continued, "For now, we just have to focus on what we can do. Which is save the library."

"And get ready for prom!" Liz chimed in excitedly, and Tsubaki grinned.

"That too."

"What colour dress are you planning to get, Maka?" Patty asked, and suddenly there were three faces staring down at her expectantly.

"Ah, I, uh…" Right on time, the bell sounded, "Gotta get to class!"

Saved by the bell indeed.

"Yo, good morning!" Sid looked up as his partner walked in, carrying two cups of much-welcomed coffee.

"Albarn, I never thought I'd say this, but you're an angel." He said as the redhead passed him a cup. Spirit just rolled his eyes at his friend's dramatics, taking his seat at the desk across from Sid's.

The two men drank deeply. In the silence, Sid's mind was working on overdrive. He had to formulate a plan to access the confidential records in the main office – he had a very big gut feeling that all of the answers they were looking for were in there.

Damn, this was not a one-man job.

"Say, Barett?" Spirit called, and he grunted to show he was listening. Spirit looked left and right, before cupping his hands around his mouth, and stage-whispering, "How confidential do you think the confidential files are?"

"Pretty confidential, I guess."

"Do you think it's possible to break in and get information?"

"Maybe?"

"Do you want to?"

Sid looked over at Spirit, who was watching him with wide eyes. "Are you serious? I was just thinking about doing that!"

"Oh yeah?" Spirit walked over to him, planting his butt on the edge of Sid's desk, "What for?"

"Gotta dig up some dirt on the Gorgon Empire."

"That's what I was gonna say!"

They both grinned stupidly at each other. "Partners?" They asked simultaneously.

"Partners."

Maka rubbed her head as she felt an oncoming headache, courtesy of Ox's incessant apologies for running away last Friday night, and Kim's promises to be there for the next one for sure.

She looked up and beamed when she spotted Soul at his locker.

"Hey!" She greeted, walking up to him. He smiled when he saw it was her, and closed his locker. "We missed you in the morning. Is your face feeling better?"

"A little better. It hurt like hell yesterday. And yeah, I kinda reached school a little late. I shoulda set my alarm earlier, considering Wes's apartment is so damn far from the school, but I forgot to an-"

"Wait. Wes' apartment?" She asked, "What does Wes' apartment have to do with anything?"

"A-ah, right. About that…" He trailed off, and she noted how he wasn't meeting her gaze.

"Soul," Maka grabbed his arm, forcing him to look her in the eyes, "What did you do?"

"I, urrr…" With his free hand, he scratched the back of his head nervously, "Kind of… kickedmyselfoutofmyhouse."

She blinked. "Huh?"

Soul cleared his throat, squeezing his eyes shut, "I said… I kind of… Kicked myself out of my house." When Maka didn't say a word, he cracked open one eye cautiously.

And immediately wished he hadn't.

Her big green eyes were glaring at him, her hands poised on her waist.

"You did what?"

She spoke it softly, but it was almost the most terrifying thing he had ever heard in his life.

"Yeah, it wasn't like, _planned_ or anything," he told her, holding his hands out as if to protect himself, "There was just a succession of events that one after another led to… me leaving the house. Plus, it wasn't like they kicked me out. I kicked myself out. Completely voluntarily."

"But how come?"

"Well… They just said some things that I didn't agree with, we fought, blah blah blah. But," he said, swinging an arm around her shoulder. She made a noise, but didn't object as he pulled her in, "Let's stop talking about that. I'm living with Wes now, and even if he is the most annoying brother _ever_, he's cool enough."

"I… guess," Maka conceded, and Soul reveled in his victory. Then she patted him on the chest, "But one day we'll have to talk about it, it's no good to bottle everything up inside."

Soul gulped, "Sureee." _Never._

"Now let's go find the others."

"So… how's the last few days been?" Spirit asked, trying to initiate conversation with his daughter, who looked like she was sleeping with her eyes open.

Maka yawned, spreading jam on her slightly burnt toast, "Boring." She sighed, taking a bite out of it, "We're trying to do some research about the Gorgons, but there's literally nothing. Nothing about the sisters; where they come from, what they did…"

She slumped on the tabletop, feeding Blair the remains of her bread. The cat purred happily, and she smiled. Across the table from her, Spirit sighed, reflecting on his own completely nonexistent research.

"Oh." Maka gasped, eyes wide. "Chicken shit, I completely forgot to tell the others."

"No swearing at the table sweetheart," Spirit reprimanded, though he wasn't even sure if chicken shit even counted as a swear.

Maka fixed her father a look, and then continued, "As I was saying… Marie-san called me yesterday night. They have the date of demolition set. It's…"

"The week after prom?!" Liz screeched, when Maka had dropped the bomb after school, where they were all gathered at the basketball court. The older girl slumped forward, placing her forehead on Maka's shoulder, "That's not a lot of time. Prom's already _this Saturday_."

Maka sighed, shoulders deflating. Liz's head bobbed down with her. "I know… But it's not like we have a choice."

"Don't worry, my followers! Two weeks is more than enough time for a God to come up with a brilliant plan." Black Star announced.

Kid scoffed, "That's what you said two weeks ago."

Everyone laughed, and Maka fidgeted, scrunching up her skirt in her hands. Soul noticed, and went to stand beside her. "You alright?"

"Mm-hmm," she said, then laughed, "Just a little nervous I guess. It's coming, faster than you think."

"Or you talking about Prom or our big protest against the demolition," he asked sarcastically, well aware of the answer. But to his surprise, Maka began to blush a little.

"Truthfully, a little bit of both."

"Oh my God!" Liz shrieked, making them both jump. They turned around to see Liz grabbing her sister by the shoulders and shaking her, "You asked Kid? Patty, noooooo. Now who am I going to ask?"

She looked around, noticing how Tsubaki took a not-so-discrete step towards Black Star, and narrowed her eyes. Pointing a finger accusingly at them, she said, "And you're going with Black Star."

Then her attention turned to Soul and Maka, who glanced at each other nervously.

"I'm guessing you two are going together too?"

Both of them blushed. It was Maka who spoke up first, "Actually, I have no idea…"

"Unless, unless you want to…" Soul mumbled, looking at her, "Do you want to?"

Maka smiled, "I don't mind."

They looked at her, "Yeah, we're going together."

Liz groaned, "That's just great. Now who am I going to go with? It can't just be any guy," she sighed sadly, putting a hand on forehead dramatically, "He has to be tall, and handsome. And sadly, no guy in this school meets that bill."

"More like no one in this school meets your standards," Tsubaki teased.

Soul paused, an idea forming in his head. It was by a long shot, but he figured it could work out.

"Actually, I know this guy…"

"Wait, you want me to go to prom with your friend? A girl I've never even met before?" Wes asked incredulously, catching the ball he was throwing against the wall.

"Yeah, in summary."

The two brothers were lounging in the small, nearly empty living room Wes had, both completely ignoring the stack of work they had on the table that needed to be completed.

Wes snorted, throwing the ball harder, "And what made you think I'd agree?"

Soul rolled his eyes, "It's not like you've got anything to lose. Besides, you're not even doing anything right now."

"It's not my fault the school only wants me to start teaching next term!" Wes defended.

"Look bro, all I'm saying is you're pretty much bored out of your mind every day. Why not just come to prom and have a little fun?"

"I am not bored out of my mind," Wes pouted, and Soul raised an eyebrow.

"You're throwing a ball against a wall to entertain yourself."

"Touché." Gripping the ball when it bounced back to him, Wes sighed, "Fine, I'll go. But tell me this, is this Liz girl hot?"

"Eh, she's alright."

Smirking, Wes asked, "Nothing compared to Maka in your eyes, right?"

"Yeah… Wait, what?"

Maka smiled as she listened to Soul on the phone, telling her how he had valiantly managed to secure a date for Liz. Laying in bed, doing her homework and with Blair curled up next to her, Maka couldn't help but feel that these were the little things in life that made it so good.

And then she heard the front door open, and realised that there were little moments that made it bad too. It always dampened her mood whenever her dad came home late at night, sometimes with a woman in his hands, sometimes with a woman on his skin.

Yawning, Maka scratched Blair on the head, bidding goodnight to Soul before switching off her lights and curling in her blanket with Blair.

Maybe she should get her dad his own cat to sleep with.

The next morning at the breakfast table, her dad didn't seem to be in such a good mood; the bags under his eyes were more pronounced, as though he hadn't slept well. But she hadn't heard a woman come in yesterday.

When he yawned for the tenth time in three minutes, Maka asked him, "Papa, did you sleep last night?"

Spirit stretched, smiling sleepily at her, "Not really. Was working a case," then he paused, and looked at her again, "Because of what's been happening at the library."

That caught her attention, "The library?"

"Yeah," he stood up, bringing his dishes to the sink, "Over the past few days, Marie's been experiencing some… well, I guess you could call it a 'vandalism' problem? Bookshelves completely fallen, some broken windows, book pages ripped off…" He frowned, "We're trying to get to the bottom of this, but whoever they were, they didn't leave a single clue behind."

Maka frowned, "You don't think this has any link to the Gorgons, right?"

"I do," he told her, "I find it hard to believe that someone else would just randomly decide to trash the place, right in the middle of this."

She had to agree with him. "So… what's the plan?"

"You're not getting yourself involved in this, Maka." Spirit warned. At her pout, he just laughed, "Don't worry though. We're putting one of our bests out as a guard tonight. You remember Justin, right?"

She did. He had been one of the youngest members of the police force, but one of the best, nonetheless.

"Now, let's go," he said, picking up her bag for her while she went to wash her plate, "And don't think about it too much. I'll update you."

Soul laughed quietly, "He told you all that, and expected you not to do anything?"

"I know right?"

The library was really something else at night, she had to admit. Moonlight streamed through the broken windows, casting shadows all over place. They hadn't really cleaned up after last night, opting to just seal off the third level from the public.

Behind the shelves where they were hiding in wait, Soul asked her, "What did you tell your dad?"

"That I'm staying over Liz's, for a project I have with Kid. You?"

He grinned, "The truth. Wes think it's pretty cool. But he did tell me one more punch to the face and I'd be permanently disfigured."

Maka frowned. In the dim moonlight, his face didn't seem too bad, but she knew that the swelling was still there. Carefully, she placed a hand on his cheek, noticing how he still winced a bit at her gentle touch.

"I'm sorry. It was all my fault."

He shook his head, placing his own hand on top of hers, "Nah, don't blame yourself. You weren't the one that socked me in the face."

"I know, but…" her eyes trailed to his chest, where she knew his scar lay covered beneath his shirt, "You always seem to get hurt because of me."

Soul looked at her softly, lifting her face up so she was looking at him, "Hey. I don't blame you for any of it. Never have, never will. So don't beat yourself up over it, okay?"

"Okay," she breathed out, his face only inches away from her. He was looking at her like he'd never looked at her before, and she knew she was probably looking at him the same way.

Just a little more…

A loud crash broke them both out of their reverie, jumping apart, instantly on high alert.

"Damn, this person got through Justin," Maka cursed, "You think he's okay?"

"I think we don't have time to worry about him right now," Soul said quickly, pulling her out of the way as the shelf they were hiding behind collapsed. Almost like a domino effect, the whole line of shelves began to fall on to one another, books flying everywhere. They both coughed as the dust surrounded them, put at a disadvantage because of the darkness.

As they stood there, hands covering their mouth and nose, there was a dead silence.

Soul signaled to her to that he would go to the left, and she the right. Maka nodded, and sprinted towards that direction, careful to be light on her feet to not draw any attention to herself.

With just the moonlight to guide her, she navigated her way through the bookcases, feeling more confident with each step she took. This was her terrain; she knew this place inside out. Grabbing a book, she made her way to where she knew there was a blind spot, crouching behind the bookcase.

Maka closed her eyes, and concentrated.

After a few moments, she could hear faint footsteps coming from the left. As it grew closer, she braced herself.

Maka barely made it out of the way before the bookcase crashed behind her. Growling, she lunged at the dark figure, silhouetted by the moonlight.

They both trashed around on the ground, amidst the fallen shelves and books. When she finally gained the upperhand and pinned her down, Maka called out for Soul and wrenched the mask of the person.

"Chrona?"


	7. Chapter 7

Soul reached them in a matter of seconds, panting heavily, "You alright?" He asked her, but Maka didn't respond, to shocked at what she was seeing.

"Chrona, but… why?"

The taller girl didn't respond, merely looking off to the side instead. That pissed Maka off more than anything. Grabbing a fistful of her shirt, Maka lifted her up so that they were eye-to-eye.

"Answer me, damn it!"

"I'm sorry." Chrona whimpered, flinching visibly at Maka's shout, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry."

Maka's grip on her dress loosened, and she sighed, "Did someone force you to do this?" Chrona nodded, tears seeping through her eyes, but Maka didn't stop to comfort, "Who?"

The first time she answered, she was mumbling too softly. Shaking her slightly, Maka told her to speak up. Lifting her head up to look at Maka, she whispered, "My mother."

Maka looked up at Soul, who looked just as confused as she felt. "Your mother?"

Chrona hung her head in shame as she said, "Medusa Gorgon."

There was a tense moment of silence in which Soul and Maka just stared at the crying girl in shock, and then, without hesitation, Maka wrapped her arms around Chrona.

Her tears stopped abruptly, and her breath hitched. Maka whispered quietly, "She forced you to do this, right? You probably didn't want to."

At those words the dam broke, and Chrona started sobbing her heart out. Maka just kept on hugging her, and Soul, watching from the back, just shook his head, though he smiled gently.

Maka was really too friendly sometimes.

A few minutes later, her sobs turned to whimpers, and Maka pulled back. "You can still set this right, you know?"

"H-how?"

"Well, firstly you could apologise to Marie-san… Then, Chrona," she took her hands in her own, "You could be my friend. And you could help us, instead."

Chrona shook her head sadly, "I, I don't know. I'm not good at making friends."

She gasped as she felt the hard spine of a book on her head, looking up at Maka, who smiled, "Silly girl. It's not hard. You can start with me."

"N-no, really. I don't know how to deal with people," Chrona said, tears leaking out again. At that, Maka pulled her into a hug, this time tighter, and more sincere, and said words that would change Chrona's whole perspective.

"It's not that you don't know how to deal with people, it's just that no one ever took the deal with you," Maka smiled then, "But you have me now. And Soul. And the rest of my friends too. You're not alone anymore, Chrona. In fact," she stood up, dusting herself off and helping Chrona up, "You should come to prom with us."

"It'll be fun." Soul added, walking up to stand beside Maka.

Looking at her first two friends, Chrona smiled shyly, tears still falling.

"Okay."

On Saturday night, after an intense round of shopping the night before, the girls were all gathered in Liz and Patty's room.

"Patty where'd you put the straightener?" Liz asked, frantically looking around for it. Tsubaki and Maka watched from the sidelines, knowing better than to say a word to Liz when she was in her element.

As the two sisters tried to get themselves sorted out, Maka slowly brushed Tsubaki's hair, smiling at her in the mirror. "You look beautiful Tsu."

The older girl blushed, "You look stunning too, Maka-chan. You'll definitely blow Soul's socks off."

At this point, Maka knew there wasn't any point in denying what they were saying, so she just shrugged and mumbled out an 'I hope so', before grinning at Tsubaki.

"And you'll definitely blow Black Star's socks off."

"Pfft, she's gone way past the point of just blowing _socks_ off, dear, innocent Maka- Hey, I already fixed my hair!" Liz screeched, swatting away the empty tub of lipstick Tsubaki, whose face currently resembled a tomato, had thrown at her.

Maka just blinked, unsure of what they were talking about.

"Maka! Will you help me zip my dress?" Patty asked, bounding up to her. Maka obliged, slowly zipping up the red dress the blonde was wearing for the night; it ended mid-thigh, showcasing her strong legs. The small, puffed-out sleeves ensured Patty still had that lovable innocence about her; and of course, seeing as how her date was Kid, her dress was strikingly symmetrical, patterns perfectly mirroring on each side.

Maka looked down at her own dress. At Liz's insistence, she had worn a dress that ended mid-thigh too. The light green of it made her eyes shine even brighter, Patty had told her, and her platforms made her long legs look even longer than they were.

At the mirror, Tsubaki and Liz stood side by side, helping each other with last minute touch-ups. Seeing as how they were both seniors and today was the last prom they would attend as Shibusen students, they were determined to make sure the other looked the best they could.

And they sure were doing a good job.

Liz wore a long-sleeved dress, the same colour as her sister's though a few shades darker, with a slit in it that started from the top of right thigh. It hugged her waist snugly, the well-placed patch of lace allowing for skin to be seen. Her long blonde hair framed her made-up face.

Tsubaki, on the other hand, wore a sleeveless dress that scrunched up at the top, accentuating her chest. The dress was a deep blue, complimenting her eyes. Hers hugged her waist snugly too, but there was no slit in it. Instead, it clung to her long shapely legs too, leaving just enough room for her to run in short steps if she needed to. Her black hair was tied up into a stylishly messy bun, a few loose strands curtaining her face.

At that moment, Maka's phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her red clutch, stepping out of the room to answer it. Kid smiled at her as he saw her, and she smiled back, noting that his red tie would go nicely with Patty's dress.

"Hello?"

"Yo, Maka," Soul's deep voice greeted her back, and before she could stop herself, she smiled lopsidedly, "Just wanted to tell you we'll probably be there in about ten minutes."

"Right on time," she told him, and she could hear the smirk in his voice as he asked, "Punctuality's cool right?"

"Very."

He laughed, and then sobered up quickly as he admitted, Maka thought somewhat bashfully, that, "By the way, I didn't want to cram in the limo with my brother and Black Star and later Kid for a _whole half an hour_, so we'll be riding on my baby."

She rolled her eyes, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Cause you know me inside out," he replied cheekily, and Maka smiled, though she told him curtly that, "It was a rhetorical question."

There was silence on the other end before Soul's spoke up again, this time softer than before, "So… I guess I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, you will. At Liz's house. Which is where we are. As in, we, us girls."

She facepalmed herself as Soul let out a bark out of laughter, agreeing with her before she ended up hanging up on him since he was still laughing.

"Who was that, Maka-chan?" Tsubaki asked, sitting calmly next to Patty on the edge of the bed, both of them watching Liz freak out in front of the mirror, furiously brushing her already straight hair.

"Soul," she answered, opting to sit beside the two instead of getting in Liz's way, "He says they'll be here in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?!" Liz shrieked, and Maka nodded slowly.

"As promised."

Liz sighed heavily, finally putting the brush down. "I don't know how you guys managed to convince me going to prom with Soul's _brother, _who I've never even _met, _would be a good idea."

"It's better than going alone," Patty pointed out, and Liz frowned at her, saying,

"That's only cause you stole Kid."

Patty laughed, walking over to her older sister. "I asked him first," she said, as she wrapped her arms around Liz, who tried to keep on frowning at her but failed miserably, "Sides, I told ya I wouldn't have minded going with you as my date, but noooooooo, you wanted man candy."

Liz squeezed her back, "Is it too late to take you up on that offer?"

Patty giggled, and Tsubaki and Maka watched as the two sisters helped each other with their last finishing touches.

Tsubaki smiled, "After watching those two, I feel like I want a hug now too."

Carefully, so as to not disturb the perfectly fashioned hairdo on her head, Maka wrapped her arms around the older girl, nuzzling into her side, "Here you go."

Tsubaki laughed, patting Maka's arms. They stayed like that until they heard the familiar sounds of a car pulling into the driveway, and then stood up, looking over each other one last time before they all piled out of Liz's room to meet their dates.

The boys were all crowded around Kid's living room area, at the base of the long staircase that Liz had wanted as their grand entrance, chatting aimlessly. Wes, despite having an age-gap of five years with the other three, mingled effortlessly into their conversation, and even managed to not look scared out of his wits when Kid had pulled him down to eye-level to fix his crooked tie, muttering how everything had to be perfectly symmetrical tonight.

"I still don't get why Tsu couldn't just get ready at our house," Black Star grumbled, "All of her makeup and clothes and shit are all there anyway."

"Liz informed me that getting ready for prom is akin to a spiritual ritual for girls." Kid told them, and Wes chuckled, nodding, "You just have to take their word for it, bud."

"Speaking from experience?" Soul asked Wes, who nodded again, this time more solemnly.

"College prom is one of the wildest things you'll ever experience in your life," was all he said, and the others were left to wonder what he meant by that.

After a moment of silence, Patty's loud voice startled them all into standing up quickly, even Black Star.

"Get ready to have your minds blown!" She announced, hidden in the darkness of an unlit corridor.

"First of all is," she paused, then shouted, "Drumroll please!"

Obligingly, the boys patted their knees, and Soul vowed if they took any secret shots of how uncool they all looked at the moment, he would break their camera.

"Tsuuuubaki!"

At the sight of her, Black Star's jaw dropped, and Soul had to suppress a grin as he pushed it back up, not wanting him to embarrass himself in front of his date (or really, not wanting Tsubaki to feel embarrassed by her date).

As she reached the bottom of the staircase, Black Star pulled out the corsage he had and placed it as gently as he could on her wrist. She smiled as she placed his boutonniere in his pocket. Almost as if he couldn't help himself, he quickly placed a kiss on her lips before they went to stand with the others.

When Patty announced Liz's name, Soul saw his brother stand up a little straighter. He couldn't blame him though; if the roles had been reversed, Soul doubted he would even have agreed to accompany a total stranger to prom at all.

Wes seemed more than a little stunned as Liz made her way down, almost gaping as blatantly as Black Star had. He sent a look to Soul which the latter read as something along the lines of 'you didn't tell me she was this hot', and Soul just shrugged.

Of course, being Wes, he managed to wipe off the look of complete surprise and replaced it with something more like subtle appreciation, which Liz seemed to enjoy, judging by the way they were checking each other out when he helped her put on her corsage (blue, at Soul's recommendation).

"Soul never told me he was acquainted with someone as stunning as you," Wes murmured as he pressed a chaste kiss to her hand, and, despite her own warnings to herself, Liz found herself blushing.

"He never told me he had a brother as stunning as you," she blurted out in return without thinking, and as she blushed harder. Wes blinked, then chuckled.

"Touché."

Soul frowned, staring at the two of them intently as they flirted carelessly. There was no way he was going to let himself end up with Liz as his sister-in-law. It was why he grumbled when Patty announced Maka's name and he had to drag his gaze away from them.

And then he had to stop his own mouth from hanging open.

He wasn't an expert by all means on dresses or make-up, or even what colour complimented the other.

All he knew was that Maka looked beautiful.

And that the green tie he had instinctively decided to wear would go well with her green dress.

When she reached him, she smiled, and nearly knocked the breathe out of him.

"You…" he gulped. She looked up at him, tilting her head to the side, waiting expectantly.

"You look beautiful." He told her quickly, turning away so she wouldn't see him blush, but that didn't work, since she giggled, holding out a hand to him. Still red, he held it and placed her corsage on it. He got her one with mainly red and green flowers, and as she placed his red rose in his pocket, all he could do was stare at her.

"Quit staring," she mumbled, cheeks tinged red as well, hands resting on his shoulders.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, Wes had been watching their entire exchange, and then grinned, bending down to whisper in Liz's ear, "Wanna bet those two will kiss before sunrise?"

The blonde just smirked, patting his shoulder, "Just add your bet to the list, hot stuff."

Patty announced her own arrival, bounding down the steps to Kid, who, stammering, placed the two identical corsages he had gotten for her on both her wrists. Instead of frowning, Patty just beamed, and Kid smiled softly at her.

"Alright guys! Ready to party!" Patty shouted, pumping her fist into the air. Everyone else cheered and then they were off. Soul and Maka waved goodbye as the rest piled into the limo, Wes not so discreetly winking at his brother before slamming the door shut.

Maka laughed, "Your brother's almost as much of a dork as you are."

Soul frowned, "Hey, I'm not a dork. I'm _cool_."

She just sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. A cool dork."

"That's more like it," he grinned, as he made his way over to his bike. Before he could get on though, Maka cleared her throat, and with her clutch wedged under an arm, held out her hand to him.

"I'll, urm, need some help getting on with this dress."

It took Soul several moments to register what she said, before he jumped into action. "Yeah, of course!"

He took her hand and led her to her seat, and then gently placed his hands on her waist, with her holding on to his shoulders, and lifted her up.

"Your lucky the dress isn't long," he told her, adjusting her dress for her so that her thighs weren't exposed and the ruffles on them didn't get crinkled, "If not you'll have to sit out arriving to prom in such a cool style."

"How lucky, right?" She said sarcastically, smiling as he frowned at her, getting on the bike. As he revved the engine, Maka went ahead and wrapped her arms around his waist, sitting just a tad closer than she usually did. From the way his shoulders deflated slightly, she knew that he wasn't offended by her little teasing, and grinned, resting her head on his shoulder.

From that angle, she had to remind herself how to breath. It was easy, sometimes, to forget how handsome he actually was, especially with the way he carried himself.

But he was really handsome.

Right now, with his hair not in its usual spikes but rather neatly combed, crimson eyes that were firmly not meeting her gaze, sharp nose, sharp teeth; Maka decided that her words from before were not sarcastic in the slightest anymore.

"You ready to go?" He asked her, and she nodded.

Travelling to their school, where prom was being held, didn't take long, and soon enough they were with the rest of the group again. The older girls all whisked Maka away from Soul as soon as she was on the ground, and he tried to not look too disheartened by that.

Wes wouldn't stop nudging him and winking though.

The school hall had been transformed, and Soul had to admit they did a pretty good job.

Wes let out a low whistle, "Not bad. Think they'll have good music?" He asked Soul, who scoffed.

"You can hope."

Beside him, Black Star let out a manly shriek of delight, dragging Kid with him to the tables where all the food was served.

The girls laughed, but Maka was unusually silent, looking around, frowning.

Tsubaki noticed, and asked her kindly, "Looking for Chrona?"

Maka smiled, "Yeah… She said she would be here, but I don't see her anywhere."

"Maybe she's stuck in traffic?"

"Maybe…"

Marie hummed to herself, walking around. The library had been closed for the day, but recently she had taken to staying a few hours after closing, since she wasn't sure if she'd be able to after next week.

Sighing, she ran a hand across the spines of shelves of books. This had been her life, her home, for so many years. In the moonlight, in the quiet peace and tranquility of the night, it was also her haven.

She may not have been able to find a husband, but she never really needed one anyway.

She had her library.

"Ow!"

Marie gasped, turning around, and immediately grabbing a book of the shelf. "Who's there?!"

Her voice echoed in the empty hallways, and she had been close to just rubbing it off as her own imagination when a figure emerged from the shadows. Seeing who it was, Marie sighed in relief.

"Chrona? What are you doing here?" She asked the young student, who looked as scared as a deer in the headlights. Calmly, she walked up to her, "Don't you have prom right now?"

Upon closer inspection, Marie saw that Chrona's shoulders were shaking; she was crying. Before she could offer comfort though, Chrona bowed her head, and through her tears, mumbled out, "I'm s-so ss-orry for… for what I did."

"Oh, my dear," Marie breathed out, grabbing hold of Chrona's shoulders and forcing her to stand up straight, "I've forgiven you already."

"B-but, I d-don't deserve your f-forgiveness." Chrona stammered out, hiccupping slightly. Marie shook her head at those words.

"Please don't say that to yourself," gently, she put a finger under Chrona's chin and made her look up at her, "I can see that you're sincere, and truly sorry for what you've done. You're a good kid, Chrona."

Silence fell, broken by Chrona's occasional whimpers.

"Do you really… forgive me?"

"Of course!" Marie promised cheerfully, "Besides, if I had held a grudge against something a kid did… then I wouldn't deserve to be called an adult."

She smiled kindly, and when Chrona's cries didn't die down, she pulled her into a hug. She felt Chrona stiffen in her arms, before she wrapped her owns around her. Soothingly, Marie rubbed Chrona's back, and after a while, her tears stopped.

Chrona pulled back, looking at Marie straight in the eyes, with determination and bravery blazing in her own.

"Ms. Marie, there are a few things I think you should know about my family."


	8. Chapter 8

The party was on full blast by the time everyone had arrived. The gym was filled with students and teachers alike, all dancing and having fun.

It took a while, but Maka managed to get her mind off Chrona and enjoy herself, dancing with her friends. A fast-paced song was on currently, and though she really did not have a single bone in her body that could move to the rhythm, Maka danced to her heart's content.

Behind her, Soul and his brother stood side by side, watching everyone dance.

"Maka's terrible," Soul muttered, though there was no malice in his voice, but just plain amusement. Wes chuckled, nodding in agreement.

"Well, at least she's having fun."

Soul snorted, "You could say the same for Black Star." They both looked over to the middle of the gym, where Black Star was pulling out all the moves known to humankind – and then some. Those close by had gathered around, creating a small stage for him, cheering him on. He looked like he was having the time of life.

Over by the side, Patty and Kid were dancing; or more accurately, Patty was twirling Kid around happily, and he was just trying to not get stepped on, though there was a smile on his face.

Soul figured it was more because he was with Patty than anything else.

He looked up as Wes nudged him, "What about you? You going to have fun?"

"What do you mean? I'm having a blast talking to my big brother," he grinned, and Wes laughed.

"I am too, little bro," he sighed, looking over to where Liz and Maka were bobbing around together, after Black Star had popped by and whisked Tsubaki away, "But I think our ladies are waiting for us."

Soul blanched, "They look like they're having a great time without us!"

"Isn't that the problem?" Wes grinned, grabbing Soul by the wrist and dragging him to the dance floor. "Come on Soul, let loose. It's prom."

"I still have two more proms to dance at," Soul cried desperately, digging his heels into the floor before they were too near to retreat.

Wes frowned, then stopped. They stood in the middle of the dancing, sweaty crowd, being bumped by people left, right and centre. "Alright Soul," Wes crossed his arms, ignoring the looks of appreciation he was getting from a crowd of seniors, "Spill. And don't give me the 'I don't dance' excuse because I've seen you move. And you can _move_. "

Soul let out a huge groan, covering his face with his hands, and mumbling incoherently into them.

"What? Can you repeat that?"

"I'm nervous, alright!?" Soul admitted, "I'm nervous about… being near Maka. She just makes me feel really weird, and hot. And I don't understand it."

With each word that he spoke, Wes' smile grew bigger and bigger, and he looked like he was going to explode.

"Dude, isn't it obvious?!" Wes shouted, holding him by the shoulders, "You're in love!"

There was a moment of silence before Soul sighed. "Crap, I was hoping it wasn't that."

Wes was still smiling, "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"Nothing?"

When his brother just continued staring at him expectantly, Soul groaned, "Nothing! At least… not right now. Maybe, when we're older…"

"Maybe?"

"Okay okay, when we're older!"

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Wes told him, stepping behind him and pushing him forward, "Now, go ask your lady for a dance. This is the first step~!"

Soul barely managed to keep his balance when he was pushed directly in front of Maka, who beamed when she saw him. "Soul, I was wondering when you were going to join us! Come on!"

She grabbed his hands and placed them on her waist, wrapping her arms around his neck. The music was still going a little too fast for his liking, but he couldn't say he didn't enjoy watching Maka bop up and down excitedly in his arms.

Her cheeks were red from all the dancing, her eyes bright, her hair shining.

She really was so beautiful.

Beside them, Wes and Liz danced together like they had been doing so for years, complete with cheesy dance moves they both knew from cheesy romantic movies. When they were close, Liz grinned at him, "What exactly did you say to Soul? He's looking at Maka like she's the Sun!"

"I don't see any difference from when he's looked at her before!"

"Yeah, but this time, he's actually doing that while she's looking at him!" He spun her around, "Amazing!"

Wes laughed, "It's just the magic of an older brother!"

Marie was silent when Chrona finished telling her the all the details she knew about her family's work. It didn't come as a surprise that most of their funds came from illegal means. It was a surprise that several members, including the chief, of police were in cahoots with them though.

Looking at the young teenager sitting cross-legged before her, Maka leaned forward and patted her knee.

"It was really brave of you to come here and tell me all of that," she said, and watched as the moonlight illuminated Chrona's red-stained cheeks.

"Someone told me all I needed was some courage to do the right thing…" she mumbled, and Marie smiled, knowing who she was referring to.

Sighing, she leaned back against the bookcase, reveling in it's hard surface. She wouldn't have to say goodbye to this place anymore.

"Chrona, truly, thank you so much," she said softly, "Because of you, I think we might be able to save the library."

Chrona beamed at that, hugging her knees to her chest, feeling happier than she ever had before.

And they both jumped when they heard a loud crash from outside the library.

Standing up quickly, Chrona pulled Marie to her feet, and they both rushed to the window. Peering out of it, Marie nearly let out a scream of outrage.

There were bulldozers and wrecking balls.

They were going to demolish the library right now.

"Not bad, you haven't stepped on my feet even once!" Soul shouted over the music, and Maka frowned at him.

"Don't say that now, you'll jinx it!" He laughed, and they continued dancing hand in hand, doing little shimmies and twirls, as the music didn't cease its fast-paced tempo.

And as the song drew to a close, it started, without any warning, into a slow song. They both immediately let each other go, standing awkwardly in front of the other as the MC announced that prom was nearing the end, and this was the second last song of the day.

Next to them, Wes and Liz were swaying, giggling happily, completely drunk on each other.

Nearby, Tsubaki was resting her head on Black Star's shoulder, eyes closed, allowing him to lead her.

Patty and Kid were dancing just a little too fast, a little out of tempo, but they were smiling like there was no tomorrow.

Even Ox and Kim were dancing, no personal space between them at all.

Looking around, Soul saw that everyone was dancing with each other. And he was the only one uncool enough to let the opportunity pass.

Clearing his throat, he bowed lightly, holding out a hand nervously.

"May I have this dance?"

Maka smiled, placing her hand in his.

"You may."

"No good, Maka's not picking up!" Marie shrieked, looking down at the construction crew assembled.

"Oh no, that's my mother's car." Chrona mumbled, watching as the BMW pulled into the corner. "Ms. Marie, do you have any other person that you could call?"

"I don't have any of Maka's friends numbers!" She cried, and then stopped. "But I do have someone's that could help us."

As she dialed the numbers she had never really forgotten, she prays that he never changed his phone.

Maka and Soul swayed on the spot; her hands resting on his shoulders, his hands on her waist.

Smiling to herself, she leaned her head on his chest, listening to the frantic beating of his heart. "I really like this," she told him, blushing slightly.

Soul smiled softly down at her, pulling her a little closer, "Yeah, me too."

They stayed like that for a few more moments, before Soul said, "Hey, Maka?"

"Hmmm?" She looked up, chin still on his chest.

It would be so easy to just kiss her now, all he had to do was tilt his head down, close his eyes, and her lips would be…

"Maka, Soul!"

The moment was shattered as Professor Stein ran towards them. Liz and Wes stopped swaying too, though didn't move apart.

"Marie just called me. She says that they're going to demolish the library now."

"What?!" Both of them shouted simultaneously.

"Are you serious?" Liz asked, stepping towards them. At that point, the other four had joined them, and most of the dancers nearby had stopped too, the commotion completely ruining the atmosphere.

"I'm afraid I am." Stein told them seriously, frowning. "What are you all going to do?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Kid said, "We'll head over there right away."

"But our driver won't be here for another hour!" Tsubaki panicked, "How are we going to get there fast?"

"I have the spare." Wes said, "I know the guy, so I'll just send him a text."

"You're coming?" Both Soul and Liz asked at the same time, and Wes frowned.

"Of course I am."

"Great," Maka said, grabbing Soul's hand, "We should go. Now." And with that they all made their way to the exit, but before they made it out, the lights dimmed, and the stage lit out.

In the background, there were cheers as Prom King was announced, and they fought their way through the thick crowd just as they announced the Queen.

"LIZ THOMPSON!"

The eight of them stopped in their tracks, turning around. Liz was gaping at the MC, standing rooted to the ground in shock.

Liz actually looked unsure, not knowing if she should even be going up there when they were running out of time. But Maka saw the look on her face, and rushed over to her, whispering in her ear.

"This is your time to shine, Liz."

The older girl shot her a grateful look, before she straightened her back, and walked with towards the stage, the light trained on her, the crowd parting before her. Her fellow cheerleaders were cheering, and Patty was beside herself, jumping up and down and screaming her sister's name.

Once she had been adorned with her sash and crown, Liz looked at the people on the floor, and beamed. With the mic in her hand, she started speaking.

"Hi everyone! First of all, let me say thank you for voting for me. I really didn't expect to win, though of course I had hoped for it," she joked, and as the laughter died down, she continued, "But tonight, there are more important things than who's being crowned the Prom King and Queen."

"Oh Liz." Maka murmured, feeling completely touched, knowing what she was about to say next.

"Tonight, we may be losing one our city's most precious buildings, the Death City library. As many of you may know, there have been plans recently to tear it down in place of a new shopping mall. Truthfully, if I hadn't known someone who cared so much about the library," she smiled at Maka, "I would've been ecstatic."

She took a deep breath, "And I'm here to tell you why you shouldn't be. Over the past few days, I've been doing a lot of research on the library. Did you know this library is almost as old as our city? It's one of the earliest buildings every constructed her, before Death City became as modern and busy as it is today. It's a historical landmark."

Everyone's eyes were glued on her, hanging on to her every word. "How many of you have memories in that place? Doesn't matter if it was with your parents as kids, or with your friends trying to cram everything during exam period!" Almost the whole hall raised their hands, and Maka had to control herself from screaming excitedly.

"Thought so," Liz smirked, "So now, I want you think. If that building is gone, would you be able to recall those memories with the same fondness? Or rather, if that building is gone, will you be able to add to the memories in it? No. No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't be able to study in that same spot you always have, or just relax with your favourite book, or read stories to your children when you have them in the future."

At this point, everyone was starting to talk amongst themselves, some even agreeing with her verbally. Bolstered by the support, Liz ended with, "Don't let this be the end of an era. Come with us to the library, and help us save those memories!"

The hall exploded into cheers, and Liz thanked the MC before hurrying down to catch up to the rest of them.

Once she reached them Maka threw herself at her, hugging her tightly.

"You are the best person in the world right now, and I could kiss you. Remind me to get you the best birthday presents for the rest of your life." She said quickly as they ran out of the hall, Liz's laughter echoing behind them.

Marie took a deep breath, glaring at Medusa as she stood in front of her library, not budging even when the bulldozers' engines were turned on. Chrona stood behind her, slightly cowering at the sight of her mother who was glaring daggers at her, but otherwise standing her ground.

"You have no right on this land!" Marie shouted, "All of your dirty tricks have been revealed, Medusa. The library doesn't belong to you. It never has! So you have no right to tear it down."

"I don't know where you heard such farfetched lies from," Medusa said calmly, "But you should understand that they're not true, and the library does indeed belong to the Gorgons."

Marie scoffed, "You're such a load of bullshit! I know everything – the forged documents, the briberies." Medusa glared at her, "The cheating and the stealing. It's over, Medusa. Your empire's going to fall."

"I'm sure you know that words mean nothing without any backing to it," Medusa hissed, "Where's your proof?"

"I can get it. See, I have friends in the police force."

Medusa laughed, long and harsh, "Do you think I'm stupid enough to not have spies in there? Please, I feel offended."

"So the proof is there," Marie stated, and Medusa shrugged.

"Well, they might have been, but I don't believe you'll be able to find them anymore. I prefer to keep my tracks… clean so to speak."

"Snakes always leave trails, Medusa."

"Medusa!"

Another voice joined in, and Marie beamed, watching as Soul and Maka skidded to a halt right in front of her, effectively creating a barrier between the library and the bulldozers.

"You won't win this time." Maka spat out, hopping off his bike. Soul grinned maliciously, baring his sharp teeth at her and her crew.

Medusa blinked, and then smiled. "I think I should say thank you, your pathetic attempts at trying to save this dump is actually much-needed entertainment."

"You don't call my library a dump, you bitch!" Marie screamed, looking as though she was ready to claw Medusa's eyes out. She probably would have if Soul hadn't stopped her.

"You can laugh all you want now, Medusa. But we'll have the last one."

She chuckled, "Oh? And who exactly is we referring to?"

Just then, Black Star's voice echoed through the silent night, "You didn't start the party without us right?!"

Maka smirked as Medusa's mouth hung open, "That's the we."

Car after car rounded around the corner, led by a black limo with Wes grinning in the driver's seat. Black Star was popping out of the top, yelling excitedly. In a matter of seconds nearly half the student body, decked out in their prom attire, was streaming out of their cars, linking their hands around the library, forming a protective shield.

In front of Maka, Black Star smiled evilly, "You're gonna pay for taking Tsu's house, motherfucker."

"Tch." Medusa said, though her façade was breaking; hints of desperation were slipping through, and with each crack Maka felt her smile grow wider.

She took a step back, and looked like she was about to make a run for it when police sirens sounded through the neighbourhood. A few seconds later, a number of patrol cars pulled up, effectively surrounding her and the rest of the Gorgon crew.

The first car that had pulled up opened, and Maka laughed when the person stepped out.

"Papa!" She had never been so happy to see her father before.

"Medusa Gorgon," he said, pulling out his badge, "You are under arrest for multiple charges, including treason and embezzlement. You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

As Spirit reached to handcuff her, Medusa scratched him across the face, immediately turning on her heel to run off, but Maka and Soul were quicker. Without hesitation she smashed her fist into Medusa's face, and the woman dropped to her knees in agony, where Soul made sure she stayed. Flexing her fist, she growled, "No one hurts my Papa."

"M-Makaaaaaaa." Her father blubbered, hugging her close.

"Old man, I think you should detain this witch first eh?" Soul said from where he was struggling on the ground with her.

"R-right." He agreed, going on his knees and handcuffing her. As he brought her to his car, she was hissing,

"You'll never win, you have no proof!"

"Nah," Sid shouted from where he was, Justin handcuffed at his feet, "I think we have all the proof we need."

Marie giggled, holding out a hand to Chrona, "We have some too." Chrona smiled as she handed over the tape recorder, and Marie took a lot of pleasure from watching Medusa's face grow paler when she replayed their earlier conversation.

Maka sighed, slumping against Soul tiredly, "Take her away Papa. For a long, long time."

"Oh, it's our pleasure, sweetheart."

Black Star cheered, and that set off a chain reaction. All over the library, kids were hugging and cheering, glad to be a part of this moment. Marie was hugging Chrona and crying, Tsubaki, Liz and Patty were jumping up and down, Kid was talking to his father on the phone, relaying the news. Even Wes and Professor Stein shook hands, though they had no idea who the other was.

Maka turned to Soul, smiling happily, tears in her eyes, "We did it! We saved the library!"

Looking at her beaming in the moonlight, he really couldn't have stopped what he did next even if he tried. Pulling her close, he kissed her full on the mouth.

It took her a moment to respond, but she did, with more enthusiasm than he had expected. Behind them, he barely registered all the cheering, and the wolf whistles courtesy of his brother and Black Star.

It really was the coolest night ever.


End file.
